HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY 

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THE 


HISTORY 


OF 


Montgomery  Classis 


R.  C.  A. 


TO  WHICH  IS  ADDED  SKETCHES  OF  MOHAWK 
VALLEY  MEN  AND  EVENTS  OF  EARLY  DAYS.  THE 
IROQUOIS,  PALATINES,  INDIAN  MISSIONS,  TRYON 
COUNTY  COMMITTEE  OF  SAFETY,  SIR  WM. 
JOHNSON,  JOSEPH  BRANT,  ARENDT  VAN  CURLER, 
GEN.  HERKIMER,  REFORMED  CHURCH  IN  AMERI- 
CA, DOCTRINE  AND  PROGRESS,  REVOLUTIONARY 
RESIDENCES,    ETC.  ::  ::  ::  :: 


/q/G 


(EmDracbt  S^aafet  Stf)adbt 


THE  VALUE  OF  HISTORICAL  RESEARCH 


History  has  been  spoken  of  as  a  mere  chain  of 
facts,  which  serve  the  purpose  of  comparing  knowl- 
edge, but  this  is  the  lesser  half  of  the  truth,  for  while 
we  need  the  guidance  of  established  facts,  systemati- 
cally arranged,  and  their  true  connection  with  pre- 
ceding and  succeeding  events,  we  submit  that  by  far 
the  larger  purpose  of  history  is  to  unite  ourselves 
with  these  facts,  to  fix  our  personal  responsibility 
as  heirs  of  the  past,  and  to  determine  our  present 
duty  to  ourselves  and  to  others,  in  the  light  of  such  knowledge. 
If  men  and  women  were  unrelated  and  individual  units  of 
humanity  we  might  review  the  past  and  forecast  the  future  with 
such  pleasure  as  comes  naturally  from  historical  research,  as  we 
weave  into  one  body  the  warp  and  the  woof  of  the  story  of  the 
centuries.  But  history,  as  we  interpret  it,  is  not  knowledge  merely, 
but  in  a  higher  sense  it  is  power,  for  it  is  inclusive  of  those  fine 
relationships  that  link  men  to  their  homes,  their  country  and  their 
God.  In  recent  years  there  has  been  a  wholesome  revival  of  histor- 
ical study,  which  finds  development  in  local  and  general  celebrations, 
in  state  and  national  expositions,  in  pageants  and  antique  loans,  in 
translation  and  reprint  of  the  church  records,  cemetery  inscriptions, 
and  the  papers  preserved  in  the  archives  of  state  and  nation.  This 
is  not  a  work  of  vanity  or  of  self-aggrandizement,  but  a  wholesome 
exercise  of  the  mind  and  soul  of  the  people,  through  which  we 
get  life's  true  bearings,  and  gain  courage  and  inspiration  with  which 
to  meet  the  days  before  us.  Such  study  and  research  as  may  be 
provoked  by  this  Classis  History  cannot  help  but  weave  its  influences 
into  our  lives,  and  thus  mould  our  character  and  direct  our  conduct. 
Imagination  takes  us  back  along  fascinating  footsteps  that  lead  to 
history-making  scenes  in  both  church  and  state — to  the  first  settlers 
in  the  valley  of  the  "Mohaque,"  indomitable  in  spirit  and  Protestant 
in  faith — to  the  church  of  our  fathers,  built  before  they  reared  their 
homes,  and  built,  too,  better  than  their  homes — to  the  kindred,  and 
friends,  and  childhood  scenes — to  the  familiar  woods  with  their  blazed 
trails — to  the  men  and  women,  most  of  them  asleep  in  unmarked 
graves  in  God's  Acres  close  by  these  churches,  who  lived  to  toil, 
and  fought  and  died,  that  they  might  hand  down  to  us  this  glorious 
heritage  of  a  land   swept  by  the   spirit  of  liberty,   where   God   dwells 


continually  in  the  midst  of  His  people.  Our  purpose  in  these  pages 
is  to  record  the  incidents  and  facts  of  the  churches  of  the  Classis  and 
their  environment.  No  attempt  is  made  to  consider  the  organic 
development  of  the  life  of  the  communities  in  which  they  are 
found,  especially  the  churches  and  fields  of  a  century  ago.  It  is  this 
study  of  local  history,  the  development  of  a  passion  for  our  countryside 
and  our  church,  this  practical  demonstration  and  administration  of 
God's  kingdom  in  our  midst  that  will  put  holy  zest  into  our  character, 
and  thereby  equip  us  for  life's  highest  duties.  The  environment  of  these 
stories,  the  Valley  of  the  Mohawk,  is  unsurpassed  in  the  grandeur 
of  its  picturesque  scenery.  Through  it  ran  the  old  Indian  trails, 
which  for  two  hundred  years  after  the  coming  of  the  white  man,  were 
the  pathways  for  the  armies.  Then  they  were  the  roads  by  which 
the  hardy  pioneers  traveled  westward,  to  return,  later,  with  the 
commerce  of  the  western  world.  How  rich  with  historic  incident,  with 
legendary  lore!  No  other  section  of  our  land  is  more  replete  with 
romantic  and  tragic  story  than  this  valley.  We  have  come  to  this 
study  and  research  in  an  honest  attempt  to  give  the  reader  the 
vision  splendid  as  we  see  it,  of  this  wonderful  heritage  that  God  and 
our  fathers  have  conserved  for  us  in  these  old  Reformed  churches 
of  this  Classis,  praying  ever  that  the  vision  may  lure  us  away  from 
any  lower  levels  of  contentment  or  indifference,  unto  the  higher  and 
broader  fields  of  opportunity  for  worship  and  service  through  the 
church  of  God.  In  some  such  way  we  will  be  able  to  realize  in  the 
character  and  conduct  of  our  daily  life  the  ideals  and  hopes  of  the 
founders  of  these  churches. 


Methinks  I  hear  the  sound  of  lime,  long  past,  still  murmuring  o'er 
me  and  whispering  thro  most  these  pages, — like  the  lingering  voices  of 
those  who  long  within  their  graves  have  slept. 


-Q 


WO  hundred  years  ago 
there  came  into  the  vir- 
gin valley  of  the  Mo- 
haque  a  company  of 
Christian  settlers.  £  In  the  wil- 
derness, thro  sorrow  and  suffering, 
they  toiled  for  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  £  Times  changed;  settle- 
ments became  thriving  cities  and 
villages;  stages  and  packets  gave 
place  to  3team  and  electricity;  can- 
dle and  oil  were  lo£t  in  the  glare 
of  the  mazdas;  beautiful  churches 
were  built;  the  wilderness  of  the 
Mohaque  was  no  more.  £  Time 
will  come  when  those  Chri^lain 
settlers  and  their  successors  thro 
the  centuries  in  the  Reformed 
Dutch  Church  of  America,  and 
their  accomplished  work,  will  be 
but  a  fleeting  memory.  £  Now 
to  keep  inviolate  the  £tory  of  this 
service  of  two  hundred  years  the 
record  has  been  transcribed  in 
these  pages, -a  task  that  has  been 
a  labor  of  love. 


/  Prefatory 

II  Introductory 

III  Montgomery  Classis  Churches 

IV  Churches  Extinct  and  Independent 

V  Cayuga  and  Geneva  Classes 

VI  Reformed  Churches  Listed 

VII  Montgomery  Classis  Ministers 

VIII  Reformed  Church  History 

IX  Mohawk  Valley  History 

X  Biography 

XI  Bibliography 


Page 

3 
7 
11 
109 
132 
138 
142 
157 
164 
187 
197 


MONTGOMERY  COUNTY 


The  Province  of  New  York  in  1771  included  what  is  now  Vermont, 
and  was  further  divided  into  the  counties  of  Albany,  Cumberland, 
Dutchess,  Kings,  New  York,  Orange,  Queens,  Richmond,  Suffolk, 
Ulster,  and  Westchester.  On  March  12,  1772,  Charlotte  and  Tryon 
counties  were  set  off  from  Albany.  At  the  time  the  Province  had  a 
population  of  168,000  including  20,000  negroes.  Charlotte  county  was 
composed  of  the  western  half  of  Vermont,  and  included  what  is  now 
Clinton,  Essex,  Franklin  and  Washington  counties.  Tryon  (Mont- 
gomery) county  included  all  west  of  Charlotte  county  to  the  St. 
Lawrence  river,  and  west  of  a  line  running  nearly  thro  the  centre 
of  Schoharie  county  to  the  Utsayantha  Lake,  the  source  of  the  west 
branch  of  the  Delaware  river,  thence  down  the  west  branch  to  the 
Pennsylvania  line. 

Originally  Tryon  county  included  about  a  third  of  the  State's 
area,  and  was  named  after  the  royal  governor  of  the  Province,  an 
intimate  friend  and  ardent  admirer  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  by 
whom  he  was  royally  entertained  at  Johnson  Hall.  At  the  time 
there  were  eight  million  acres  in  the  county,  but  thro  the 
years  this  has  been  reduced  unto  its  present  size  of  some  three 
hundred  thousand. 

Governor  William  Tryon,  after  whom  the  county  was  originally 
named,  was  popularly  known  in  the  Province  as  "Bloody  Billy."  He 
was  Governor  of  North  Carolina  prior  to  his  appointment  over  New 
York.  In  1777  Tryon  became  almost  a  savage  in  his  treatment  of  the 
colonists.  He  charged  Washington  with  burning  a  quarter  of  New  York 
and  plotted  to  assassinate  him  and  blow  up  the  fort.  His  personality 
was  so  intensely  offensive  to  the  patriots  of  the  Mohawk  valley, 
who  were  to  all  intents  the  first  "Independents"  in  the  Colonies  (cf 
Note  on  Tryon  Co.  Com.  Safety)  that  the  name  of  the  county  was 
changed  April  2,  1784,  to  that  of  Montgomery,  in  honor  of  Gen. 
Richard  Montgomery,  the  brave  American  officer  who  had  lost  his 
life  in  an  attempt  to  capture  Quebec.  The  history  of  Tryon  county's 
twelve  years  of  existence  would  fill  a  volume  whose  pages  are 
largely  carmined  with  the  life  blood  of  those  Christian  patriots  who 
for  the  most  part  were  allied  with  the  Dutch  church.  When  the  glad 
tidings  of  peace  were  announced  Tryon  county  was  a  desolate  blood- 
stained wilderness.  Today  the  traveler,  speeding  along  the  old 
Indian  trail  in  palatial  splendor,  is  entranced  with  the  beautiful  vista 
of  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk  and  is  reminded  on  the  journey  at 
Schenectady  and  Canajoharie  of  its  Indian  occupancy,  while  at  Pala- 
tine his  thots  go  back  to  the  Rhine  of  the  Fatherland.  But  only  in 
the  musty  pages  of  forgotten  tomes  will  one  ever  come  upon  the  name 
of  Tryon.  Herkimer  and  Otsego  counties  were  formed  from  Mont- 
gomery this  same  year  (1784).  In  1780  a  state  road  was  begun  leading 
from  Schenectady  to  Utica,  sixty-eight  miles.  There  were  toll  gates 
established   at   the   terminals,  and   others  at   Cranesville,    Canajoharie, 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Schenck's  Hollow,  Garoga  Creek,  St.  Johnsville,  East  Creek  Bridge, 
Fink's  Ferry,  Herkimer,  and  Sterling.  At  this  time  Montgomery 
county  had  a  population  of  15,057. 

In  1788  Montgomery  county  was  enlarged  to  take  in  the  lands 
of  the  Iroquois  which  extended  from  its  west  boundary  line.  On  Nov. 
5,  1768  the  Iroquois  had  made  with  England  the  Treaty  of  Fort 
Stanwix,  receiving  in  lieu  of  certain  lands  $50,600.  Later  their  rights 
to  these  lands  were  declared  forfeited  by  the  Crown.  In  1789  Ontario 
county  including  all  the  land  west  of  Seneca  lake,  two  million  acres, 
was  set  off.  In  1791  Hamilton  and  Tioga  counties  were  formed. 
Hamilton  county  was  put  back  into  Montgomery  in  1797  but  again 
set  off  in  1817.  In  1838  Fulton  county  was  formed,  its  creation  being 
due  to  the  effort  to  move  the  county  seat  from  Johnstown  to  Fonda. 
From  Montgomery  County  have  been  carved  the  following  New  York 
State  counties, — Alleghany,  Broome,  Cattaraugus,  Cayuga,  Chautau- 
qua, Chemung,  Chenango,  Delaware,  Erie,  Essex,  Franklin,  Fulton, 
Genesee,  Hamilton,  Herkimer,  Jefferson,  Lewis,  Livingston,  Madison, 
Monroe,  Niagara,  Oneida,  Onondaga,  Ontario,  Orleans,  Oswego, 
Otsego,  St.  Lawrence,  Schoharie,  Schuyler,  Seneca,  Steuben,  Tioga, 
Tompkins,  Wayne,  Wyoming,  and  Yates. 

GENERAL  RICHARD  MONTGOMERY 


Maj.  Gen.   Montgomery 


This  distinguished  patriot- 
soldier,  after  whom  the  County 
is  named,  was  born  in  Dublin, 
Ireland,  December  2,  1736,  en- 
tering the  army  of  Great  Britain 
at  -  the  age  of  twenty,  serving 
seven  years  in  the  French  and 
Indian  war.  When  the  Regi- 
ment to  which  Montgomery  be- 
longed was  ordered  to  enforce 
the  Stamp  Act  he  and  others  re- 
signed, an  act  due,  doubtless,  to 
the  influence  of  Fox  and  Pitt, 
with  whom  for  some  years  he 
had  been  intimate.  He  visited 
England  later,  and  sought  cer- 
tain honors,  failing  of  which  he 
returned  to  America  and  went 
to  live  in  New  York  City.  He 
bought  a  large  estate  in  Dutch- 
ess county,  facing  the  river  and 
soon     afterwards     (July,     1773) 


married  Janet  Livingston,  whom  he  had  first  met  when  he  was  a 
captain  in  the  British  army.  She  was  the  sister  of  Chancellor 
Livingston,  one  of  the  three  men  to  organize  Montgomery  Classis 
in  1880,  and  daughter  of  Robert  R.  Livingston,  one  of  the  judges  of  the 
King's  bench.  Here  he  settled  down  to  the  peace  and  prosperity 
of  his  quiet  home.  However,  it  was  of  short  duration,  for  he  soon 
joined  the  ranks  of  the  colonists,  and  enlisted  in  the  army  of  General 
Schuyler  which  was  preparing  for  an  attack  on   Quebec      He   parted 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

from  his  beloved  Janet  at  Saratoga,  never  to  see  her  again.  In 
1775  he  was  second  in  command  with  the  rank  of  Brigadier.  Illness 
of  Gen.  Schuyler  threw  the  entire  command  upon  Montgomery.  He 
succeeded  in  taking  St.  John,  Chambly,  and  Montreal.  Congress 
made  him  Major  General.  Forward  thro  the  December  snows  he 
pressed  to  join  Arnold  in  the  attack  on  Quebec.  For  three  weeks 
the  city  was  besieged,  and  on  the  morning  of  Dec.  31,  1775,  amid 
the  falling  snow,  an  attempt  was  made  to  take  it.  Montgomery  was 
killed  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  attack  while  leading  a  division 
along  the  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence  beneath  Cape  Diamond.  Arnold 
also  was  wounded  and  the  expedition  failed..  Among  the  prisoners 
taken  at  St.  John  was  Capt.  Andre  who  was  later  exchanged  and 
joined  the  English  army  under  Gen.  Clinton,  and  became  Major 
Andre.  Major  Andre  had  an  intimate  friendship  with  "Peggy" 
Shippen,  the  daughter  of  the  radical  Tory  of  that  name  of  Philadel- 
phia, whom  Benedict  Arnold  married  as  his  second  wife.  For  two 
years  prior  to  the  West  Point  affair  a  correspondence  was  kept  up 
between   Major  Andre  and  Arnold  and   Mrs.   Arnold. 

For  forty-three  years  the  remains  of  Montgomery  rested  within 
the  walls  of  Quebec.  When  time  for  exhuming  the  body  came, 
one  James  Thompson,  a  man  of  eighty-nine,  was  found,  who  iiad 
originally  buried  Montgomery,  and  also  had  the  sword  that  Mont- 
gomery wore  when  he  was  killed.  In  1818  at  the  request  of  Janet 
Montgomery,  who  had  lived  all  these  lonely  years  at  the  "Montgom- 
ery Place"  (Rhinebeck),  thro  action  of  the  New  York  Legislature 
the  body  was  brot  back  to  America  and  New  York.  It  lay  in 
state  at  the  Capitol,  Albany,  on  Independence  Day,  1818.  On  the 
following  day  Mrs.  Montgomery  stood  alone  upon  the  broad  piazza 
of  her  home  and  for  hours  watched  the  funeral  cortege  wending  its 
way  down  the  Hudson  past  the  General's  former  dwelling.  On 
July  8,  1818,  it  was  buried  in  St.  Paul's  churchyard  beneath  a  mural 
monument  ordered  by  Benjamin  Franklin  and  provided  by  Congress. 
He  was  in  his  fortieth  year  when  he  died,  tho  the  monument  says 
but  thirty-seventh.  His  only  original  portrait  reproduced  here  was 
made  at  twenty-five  when  he  first  came  to  America. 

THE  CLASSIS  OF  MONTGOMERY 


Among  the  churches  of  the  Classis 
of  Montgomery  of  this  day  are  or- 
ganizations that  carry  us  back  to 
the  very  first  settlements  of  the 
Mohawk  valley,  as  Fort  Herkimer 
which  was  organized  in  1723.  Nearly 
half  of  the  present  membership  of  the 
Classis  are  churches  which  were 
founded  more  than  a  hundred  years 
ago.  Still  the  terms  "old"  and  "new" 
are    relative    and    indefinite    since    what 

may  seem  old  to  us  is  after  all  but  new 
Caughnawaga  Church  jn  the  Hght  q{  Qther  higtory      And  yet 

we    are    proud    of    these    old    Dutch    churches    of    the    valley    of    the 
"Mohaque,"    some    of    whose    buildings    take    us    back    to    the    begin- 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 


ning  of  things  in  this  section  of  New  York  State,  as  the  church  at 
Fort  Herkimer  whose  foundations  were  laid  before  1740,  and  whose 
quaint  architecture,  bold  and  strong,  has  almost  entirely  escaped  the 
despoiling  hand  of  the  modern.  These  pages  tell  the  romantic — often 
tragic  story,  of  the  provisions  made  by  these  first  settlers  to  supply 
the  religious  needs  of  the  community,  and  is  worthy  of  repeated 
telling,  that  the  people  of  this  day  may  know  something  of  the  price 
paid  for  the  heritage  handed  down  to  them. 

Named  after  the  County  in  which  its  churches  were  for  the 
most  part  originally  situated  the  Classis  of  Montgomery  was  formed 
on  Wednesday,  Sept.  2,  1800,  at  the  Caughnawaga  (Fonda)  Dutch 
church.  On  Friday,  June  13,  1800,  General  Synod  had  appointed  a 
committee  of  three,  Rev.  Dr.  John  Livingston  (afterwards  Chancel- 
lor), Rev.  Dr.  Dirck  Romeyn  (pastor  of  the  1st  Dutch  church  at 
Schenectady,  and  founder  of  Union  College),  and  Rev.  Dr.  Solomon 
Froeligh  (later  organizer  of  the  "Wyckofite"  church),  all  three  pro- 
fessors in  the  Theological  Seminary,  to  organize  the  Classis.  At 
this  Synod  there  were  seventy-two  ministers  and  elders  present, 
thirty-one  of  whom  were  from  the  Classis  of  Albany.  Among  the 
delegates  were  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  (cf  Owasco)  and  his  elder, 
Lowrens  E.  Van  Nalen  from  the  Veddersburgh  (Amsterdam)  church, 

Rev.  Abram  Van  Home  and  his  elder  from 
the  Caughnawaga  church,  and  Rev.  Dirck 
Romeyn  and  his  elder,  Garret  S.  Veeder, 
from  the  First  Dutch  church  at  Schenec- 
tady. At  this  time  the  Reformed  Protest- 
ant Dutch  Church  of  America  had  five 
classes,  Albany,  Hackensack,  Kingston, 
New  Brunswick,  and  New  York.  In  1800 
General  Synod  divided  the  Classis  of  Al- 
bany, Kingston  and  Hackensack  into  seven 
classes,  Montgomery  being  one  of  the 
bodies  set  off  from  Albany,  and  containing 
twenty-four  churches.  With  Albany  the 
churches  of  the  Classis  of  Rensselaer, 
Montgomery,  and  Ulster  formed  in  1800 
the  original  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  (formerly  called  the  Circle 
of  Albany).  This  was  made  up  of  the  churches  of  Albany,  Charlotte, 
Cumberland,    Gloucester,    Schenectady,    and    Schoharie    counties. 

Rev.  Rynier  Van  Nest  of  Schoharie  became  the  first  President 
of  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  and  Rev.  Abram  Van  Home  of  Caugh- 
nawaga the  First  Stated  Clerk.  The  churches  forming  the  Classis  at 
its  organization  were  the  following:  1.  Amsterdam  (not  present  Am- 
sterdam); 2.  Andrustown  (merged  in  Columbia);  3.  Canajoharie 
("Sand  Hill");  4.  Charlestown  (extinct);  5.  Chenango  (Presb.  and 
extinct);  6.  ^fejfes+pqtf-^Florida^;  7.  Coenradstown  (merged  in  Colum- 
bia); 8.  Conewago  (Caughnawaga  i.  e.  Fonda);  9.  Curriestown  (Curry- 
town);  10.  Duanesborough  (Presb.  and  extinct);  11.  Fonda's  Bush 
(Presb.);  12.  German  Flatts  (Fort  Herkimer);  13.  Herkimer;  14. 
Lower  Schoharie  (Schoharie);  15.  Mayfield  (Presb.);  16.  New  Rhine- 
beck  (Lawyersville) ;  17.  Owasco  Lake  (Owasco);  18.  Remsens  Bush 
(Florida);  19.  Sacondaga  (extinct);  20.  Schoharie  Kill  (extinct);  21. 
Sharon  (Schoharie  Classis);  22.  Snellsbush  (Manheim);  23.  Stone 
Arabia;   24.   Upper   Schoharie    (Middleburgh). 


Rev.  Dr.  Livingston 


l(i 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


AMSTERDAM:  FIRST  REFORMED  CHURCH 


3g 


Originally  the  church 
was  the  First  Reformed 
(Dutch)  Church  of  Port 
Jackson,  and  was  organ- 
ized in  1850.  Religious 
services  had  been  con- 
ducted in  the  school  house 
for  some  time  during  the 
early  part  of  1850,  and 
before  applying  to  Classis 
for  recognition  the  found- 
ers of  the  church  had  se- 
cured a  lot  upon  which 
they  had  already  begun 
the  construction  of  the 
building  which  cost  about 
$3,000.00. 

The  church  had  applied 
to  Classis  on  June  28,  1850, 
and  on  Sept.  8,  1850,  the 
Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda  of 
the  Caughnawaga  church  installed  the  first  consistory,  elders  John 
Freemyre,  Don  C.  Bent,  and  Cornelius  Phillips,  and  deacons  William 
McClumpha  and  Frederick  Vedder.  Later  on  Sept.  17  the  church 
was  received  into  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  but  it  was  not  until 
Feb.  8,  1851,  that  the  first  service  of  communion  was  held,  and  the 
charter  members,  of  whom  there  were  twenty-five  (including  the 
consistory),  were  received. 

The  dedication  of  the  new  church  was  held  on  Dec.  19,  1850, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  Rev.  Garret  L.  Roof  was  installed.  Mr. 
Roof  was  a  Union  College  man,  and  had  been  practicing  law 
for  some  years  when  he  was  called  to  the  ministry,  and  had  seen 
four  years  service  at  Glen  and  Auriesville  before  coming  to  Amster- 
dam. His  ministry  here  ended  April  10,  1855,  and  he  served  the 
church  of  Watervliet  for  the  following  nine  years.  Then  occurred 
a  ten  year  pastorate  in  the  Lowville  (N.  Y.)  Presbyterian  church. 
He  died  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in  1891.  Cornelius  Gates  was  next  called 
(June  27,  1856)  from  the  Classis  of  Philadelphia,  but  remained 
only  a  year,  serving  later  at  Wolcott  in  the  Geneva  Classis  and  at 
Minisink  in  the  classis  of  Orange,  where  he  died  in  February,  1863. 
The  church  at  this  time  numbered  fifty  with  the  Sunday  school  about 
the  same  size,  which  was  begun  with  the  church  in  1850.  From 
the  close  of  the  Gates  pastorate  the  church  had  no  settled  minister 
for  six  years,  or  until  Henry  Martin  Voorhees  was  called,  who  began 
his  work  August  1,  1863.  During  this  interim  the  pulpit  was 
mainly      supplied      by      Revs.      Abram      J.      Swits      and      Isaac      G. 


11 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Duryee  of  Schenectady.  Mr.  Swits  on  graduation  from  New 
Brunswick  in  1820  had  served  as  a  Classical  Missionary  in 
Montgomery  for  some  time.  For  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  his 
life  he  lived  retired  at  Schenectady,  and  for  about  three  years  supplied 
the  pulpit  of  the  Port  Jackson  church  (Aug.,  1857-July,  1859,  and 
Nov.,  1862-Aug.,  1863).  Mr.  Swits  died  in  1878  at  Schenectady.  Rev. 
Isaac  G.  Duryee  while  pursuing  his  college  course  at  Union 
showed  his  great  courage  in  espousing  the  cause  of  the  colored 
folks,  securing  for  them  a  house  of  worship  (only  recently  torn  down) 
at  Schenectady.  He  graduated  at  Andover  in  1841  and  for  a  year 
following  was  at  the  Yale  Divinity  School.  He  preached  first  for 
the  Congregationalists.  After  a  pastorate  of  six  or  seven  years  in 
the  Second  Reformed  church  of  Schenectady  he  became  the  supply  at 
Port  Jackson,  remaining  nearly  three  and  a  half  years  at  an  annual 
stipend  of  $400.  He  left  the  church  to  enlist  in  the  war  and  became 
the  Chaplain  of  the  31st  Regt.  N.  Y.  Vols.  He  died  soon  after  the 
close  of  the  war,  Feb.  8,  1866,  at  Schenectady. 

Rev.  Henry  Martin  Voorhees  was  ordained,  and  installed  over 
the  church  on  Oct.  27,  1863,  having  come  to  the  work  from  New 
Brunswick  seminary.  He  brot  to  the  organization  the  enthusiastic 
and  intelligent  and  permanent  ministry  that  it  greatly  needed,  and 
was  greatly  blessed  in  his  work,  which  continued  for  sixteen  months. 
Mr.  Voorhees  had  several  other  pastorates,  and  died  in  1895  at  the 
age  of  fifty-five.  The  pulpit  was  soon  again  filled.  Rev.  A.  Messier 
Quick,  another  New  Brunswick  senior  being  called,  who  was  or- 
dained, and  installed  over  the  church  soon  after  his  graduation  in 
May,  1865,  and  remained  until  November,  1869.  Mr.  Quick,  after 
leaving  Port  Jackson,  had  a  nearly  quarter-century  pastorate  in  the 
Franklin,  N.  J.  church  (Classis  of  Newark).  He  then  went  to  Peek- 
skill  (1882-1885)  and  then  to  the  Ocean  Hill  Reformed  church  of 
Brooklyn  (1885-1890).  He  is  at  present  living  in  Brookyn,  without 
charge.  He  is  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  "Intelligencer." 
After  Mr.  Quick's  going  the  church  was  without  a  pastor  for 
three  years  and  a  half,  or  until  the  coming  of  Rev.  Mr.  Minor  in  May, 
1873.  During  this  time  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Mr.  Pettengill 
from  July  1,  1870,  to  Oct.  1,  1872.  John  Minor  had  already  served 
the  Reformed  church  for  about  thirty  years  when  he  was  called  to 
the  pastorate  from  the  1st  church  of  Glenville.  During  his  ministry 
here  of  seven  years  and  a  half  one  hundred  and  forty-seven  were 
received  in  the  church.  He  left  the  field  in  October,  1880,  and  spent 
ten  years  longer  in  the  classis  ministering  unto  the  smaller  churches, 
dying  in  1890  while  he  was  supplying  at  Fort  Herkimer.  On 
January  6,  1881,  Rev.  Joshua  R.  Kyle,  the  present  pastor,  was 
installed  over  what  became  the  First  Reformed  church  of  Amster- 
dam. He  was  formerly  connected  with  the  United  Presbyterian 
church,  Monangahela,  Pa.  During  his  ministry  besides  liquidating 
a  debt  of  $4,000  the  church  was  extensively  repaired  at  a  cost  of 
about  $9,000,  and  a  new  organ  was  placed  at  a  cost  of  $1,700.  During 
Dr.  Kyle's  long  pastorate  of  a  generation  great  changes  have  taken 
place  in  the  community  and  city,  Port  Jackson  becoming  a  ward  of 
the  city  which  has  grown  from  Vedder's  Mills  to  be  one  of  the 
greatest  industrial  centres  of  the  Empire  State.  The  late  Luther  L. 
Dean  was  an  elder  in  this  church  for  forty  years,  while  Jacob  'J. 
Johnson  has  been  choir  leader  and  Sunday  school  superintendent  for 

12 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

thirty  years.  The  present  consistory  is,  William  Servoss,  John  H. 
DeGraff,  Jonas  D.  Friderici,  Jacob  J.  Johnson,  and  James  H.  Doak, 
elders,  and  William  J.  Smith,  John  S.  Sterling,  Earl  V.  Servoss, 
Francis  J.  Johnson,  and  Ralph  A.  Hallenbeck,  deacons. 

AMSTERDAM:  TRINITY  REFORMED  CHURCH 

In  the  year  1890  certain  church  workers  of  the  Second  Presby- 
terian church  recognized  the  fact  that  while  the  central  portions  of 
Amsterdam  were  well  churched  there  was  no  organization  in  either 
the  east  end  of  the  city  or  on  what  has  come  to  be  known  as  the 
Market  Hill  section.  But  the  second  church  did  not  see  the  need 
for  any  similar  organization  in  either  of  these  sections,  hence  their 
own  workers  were  forced  to  turn  for  aid  to  another  denomination, 
which  proved  to  be  the  Reformed  church.  Rev.  J.  H.  Enders,  the 
Synodical    Superintendent,   came   to   the   field   at   once,   and   with   the 


workers  decided  to  establish  a  religious  work  in  the  east  end  of  the 
city.  Here  the  work  had  hardly  begun  when  the  Methodist  church 
also  initiated  a  work  in  the  same  community,  and  the  Reformed 
church  workers  moved  out  and  upon  the  Market  Hill  section  and 
began  services  in  the  old  Academy  building,  hired  for  the  purpose. 

Besides  Rev.  Enders,  Edward  O.  Bartlett  and  Jacob  J.  Johnson, 
the  former  a  charter  member  of  Trinity,  the  latter  for  more  than  a 
quarter-century  superintendent  of  the  First  Reformed  church  Sunday 
school,  were  active  in  beginning  the  work.  Jamas  A.  Smeallie  and 
H.  S.  Vossler,  elders,  and  E.  O.  Bartlett  and  W.  H.  Carver,  deacons, 
were  the  first  consistory.  P.  Henry  Smeallie  and  N.  W.  Donnan 
were  also  active  at  the  starting  of  the  work.     In  December,  1891,  a 


13 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Sunday  school  was  started  in  the  Academy, 
where  preaching  services  had  been  held  for 
some  time,  and  in  1892,  February,  Rev.  Jas. 
A.  Beattie  of  Pekin,  111.,  a  Glasgow  Uni- 
versity man,  was  called  to  the  field  and  re- 
mained thro  a  part  of  1894  when  he  en- 
tered the  mission  work  of  the  Reformed 
church  in  Chittoor,  India.  It  was  dur- 
ing    his     ministry     that     the     chapel     was 

™       T^T        u^c     i  built    which    served    the    congregation    for 

The    Church    Seal  , 

A  ,      ,    ,  .      _,_.,,.  some     seventeen     years,     tho    at     the     time 

Adopted  in  1910  .  J         ' 

of      its      building      the      plans      called      for 

the  completion  of  the  church  the  following  year.  The  formal 
organization  of  the  church  took  place  April  5,  1892,  and  besides  Mr. 
Bartlett,  H.  S.  and  Mrs.  Vossler  are  the  remaining  active  charter  mem- 
bers. A  fourth  member  is  Mrs.  Margaret  Beattie  of  Chittoor,  India. 
Other  charter  members  not  mentioned  above  were  Mrs.  W.  H.  Carver, 
Mrs.  J.  A.  Smeallie,  Mrs.  P.  H.  Smeallie,  and  Mrs.  N.  W.  Donnan. 
The  land  and  the  building  cost  $9,500  of  which  sum  the  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions  loaned  $5,000.  Mr.  Beattie  was  one  of  the  thous- 
and passengers  lost  when  the  Lusitania  was  destroyed  off  the  English 
coast  on  May  7,  1915. 

The  second  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev.  Evert  J.  Blekkink, 
who  had  served  the  churches  at  Lishas  Kill,  Cobleskill  and  Lawyers- 
ville,  and  who  came  to  Amsterdam  in  1894  and  remained-  thro  most 
of  1899,  doing  a  splendid  fundamental  work  in  the  field.  Mr.  Blek- 
kink went  next  to  Kalamazoo,  Mich.,  from  which  place  he  was  called 
to  Holland,  Mich,  in  1905,  and  after  a  brief  pastorate  here  was  made 
Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Western  Theological  Seminary  at  Hol- 
land, Mich.  Rev.  Blekkink's  son,  Rev.  Victor  Blekkink  is  now  pastor 
of  the  Canajoharie  church  (cf).  Rev.  Charles  W.  Van  Zee  came  to 
the  church  from  Freehold,  N.  J.  in  1900,  and  after  remaining  a  little 
less  than  three  years  went  to  High  Bridge,  N.  J.  in  which  pastorate 
he  died,  August  16,  1903.  He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Howard  R. 
Furbeck,  son  of  Rev.  Philip  Furbeck  (cf  Fonda),  who  was  ordained 
by  the  Montgomery  Classis  and  installed  over  the  church  in  1901. 
He  remained  but  a  year  and  a  little  more,  going  next  to  Rensselaer, 
and  is  now  at  Annandale,  N.  J. 

The  fifth  pastor  at  Trinity  was  Rev.  W.  N.  P.  Dailey,  who  had 
had  pastorates  at  Albany  3d  and  Athens  before  coming  to  Amster- 
dam. His  first  work  had  been  as  a  missionary  under  the  Presby- 
terian church  in  Utah.  In  his  years  at  Trinity  the  church  grew  by 
bounds,  the  building  was  completed,  the  Board  relieved  from  aiding 
in  pastor's  salary,  the  several  organizations  perfected,  and  the  various 
work  of  the  church  established.  Members  of  the  consistory  at  the 
time  of  building  the  church  were,  besides  the  pastor,  elders  Harvey 
S.  Vossler,  Edward  O.  Bartlett,  Levi  M.  Strong,  H.  O.  Wilkie  and 
John  H.  Wilkie,  and  deacons  Fred  W.  Rogge,  Jas.  Lindsay,  Charles 
McGovern,  Wm.  B.  Greene,  and  Peter  R.  Van  Valkenburgh.  One 
of  the  members  of  the  church,  Charles  E.  Fick  was  the  contractor, 
who  wrought  his  best  into  the  structure,  an  edifice  of  beauty  and 
stability.  Fred  W.  Rogge  who  administered  the  finances  of  this 
$25,000  addition  deserves  special  mention.  The  cost  of  the  addition 
was  four-fifths  met  at  dedication.     The  church  is  one  of  the  finest  of 


14 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

any  denomination  in  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  its  completion  marked 
the  dawn  of  a  new  era  in  its  history.  After  a  pastorate  of  more  than 
eight  years,  the  longest  in  the  church  to  date,  Mr.  Dailey  was  per- 
suaded to  take  up  the  Missionary  work  of  the  Montgomery  Classis, 
which  he  did  in  November,  1911,  in  which  work  he  is  still  engaged. 
His  successor  was  Rev.  J.  Harvey  Murphy  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  who 
came  to  the  church  in  February,  1912,  and  has  pushed  forward  the 
work  of  the  organization,  until  today  Trinity  is  one  of  the  strongest 
of  the  churches  of  the  Classis  of  Montgomery. 


AURIESVILLE  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Auriesville  was  for- 
merly called  "Auries 
Creek,"  and  there  are 
many  references  to  the 
place  both  in  the  coun- 
ty records  as  well  as  in 
the  State's  documents. 
Tradition  tells  us  that 
the  name  is  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  Indian  word 
"Ograckie,"  which  is 
found  in  the  Fonda 
records  as  a  boundary 
line  in  the  Shucksburg 
Patent  of  10,000  acres 
which  was  on  both 
sides  of  Auries  Hill  in 
the  town  of  Glen.  We 
are  also  told  of  an  old 
Indian,  by  name  "Aurie,"  which  is  the  Dutch  for  Adrien  or  Aaron, 
who  lived  near  the  mouth  of  the  creek,  after  whom  the  place  was 
called.  In  N.  Y.  Doc.  History  in  a  list  of  King's  County  assessments, 
dated  1675,  the  name  "Arie"  appears  as  a  Christian  name  six  times, 
and  "Ariaen"  once.  Doubtless  the  name  came  from  some  settler 
bearing  the  Christian  name  of  "Arie,"  since  changed  to  "Aurie"  who 
lived  near  the  place  about  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
"Ograckie"  has  no  meaning  of  itself,  but  is  probably  a  corruption 
of  the  word  Osarakie,  which  means  "at  the  beaver  dam."  The  word 
occurs  in  the  John  Scott  Patent  (IT:.':.')  as  a  boundary  point.  Auries- 
ville is  the  supposed  site  of  the  lower  Mohawk  Castle,  which  Domine 
Megapolensis,  in  his  visit  in  1664  called,  "Asseru,"  and  which  Father 
J°gu&&  called  "Osseru."  When  Arent  Van  Corlaer  visited  the  place 
in  1635  he  found  the  name  of  the  ruling  sachem  to  be  "Adriochten." 
The  word  Aurie  or  Arie  is  the  Dutch  for  Adrien  or  Adrianus,  the 
meaning  of  which  is  the  "sea."  Here  near  Auriesville  Father  Jogues 
was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  1646.  Gen.  John  S.  Clark  after  an  ex- 
haustive study  approved  the  location  of  this  Papal  shrine,  but  since 
this  approval  the  Arent  Van  Curler"  Journal  has  come  to  light  with 
much  data  that  might  change  this  determination.  At  Auriesville  the 
Mohawks  had  their  castle  from  1635  thro  1666,  at  the  close  of  the 
latter   year   being   driven   out   by   the   French   and   settling   across   the 


15 


•••:  SUc^-rmn^^^//^  ^ 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

river  at  Caughnawaga  where  they  remained  until  1693,  when  the 
French  again  drove  them  away,  the  tribe  going  to  the  west  side  of 
the  mouth  of  the  Schoharie  creek. 

The  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church  of  Auriesville  was  or- 
ganized March  19,  1839,  under  the  title  of  "The  Second  Reformed 
Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the  town  of  Glen,  Montgomery  County." 
The  trustees  elected  on  March  19  were  John  C.  Servoss,  Henry  C. 
Cady,  David  Wood,  Erastus  Holmes,  and  Abraham  V.  Putman. 
Henry  C.  Cady  gave  the  land  for  the  church,  adjoining  the  old  ceme- 
tery and  the  edifice  was  built  by  Peter  Wiles.  The  Dutch  church  of 
Albany  gave  a  $100  toward  this.  The  first  consistory  was  John  C. 
Servoss  and  Erastus  Holmes,  elders,  ordained  by  Rev.  Jukes  in  No- 
vember, 1839.  The  first  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev.  Chas.  Jukes  who 
was  born  in  England  in  1788  and  came  to  this  country  in  1830.  His  first 
charges  were  in  the  Presbyterian  churches  of  Edinburgh  and  the 
Fish  House,  and,  later,  he  was  pastor  for  five  years  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  at  Amsterdam.  His  first  work  in  the  Reformed  church 
was  at  Glen  to  which  he  came  in  1839,  the  year  of  the  organization. 
He  preached  here  for  nearly  five  years,  going  in  the  latter  part  of 
1844  to  the  collegiate  pastorate  of  Ephratah  and  Stone  Arabia,  where 
he  remained  until  1850,  in  which  year  he  entered  the  work  of  the 
Rotterdam  church  near  Pattersonville,  where  he  died  in  1862.  It  was 
during  Jukes  pastorate  that  the  church  was  built  which  was  burned 
in  1876.  Some  of  the  descendants  of  Rev.  Jukes  are  living  in  Fulton 
county.  From  July,  1845,  to  October,  1846,  the  pulpit  was  supplied 
by  Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda,  pastor  at  Fonda   (cf). 

The  second  pastor  at  Auriesville  was  Rev.  Garret  L.  Roof,  who 
followed  Jukes  after  an  interim  of  a  couple  of  years  and  was  or- 
dained and  installed  over  the  church  December  1,  1846.  Leaving 
Auriesville  in  1850  he  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  newly  organized 
church  at  Port  Jackson,  now  the  First  Reformed  church  of  Amster- 
dam. On  the  occasion  of  the  fifty-sixth  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of 
Stone  Arabia  (October  19,  1780),  and  the  erection  of  a  monument 
to  the  memory  of  Col.  John  Brown,  who  lost  his  life  in  that  battle, 
Mr.  Roof  made  a  brilliant  oration.  This  was  on  October  19, 
1836.  His  pastorate  at  Amsterdam  ended  in  April,  1855,  and 
his  next  church  was  at  West  Troy  (Watervliet)  where  he 
remained  from  1855  thro  1864,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Lowville  Presbyterian  church  which  he  served  for  ten  years.  He 
now  retired  from  the  active  ministry,  residing  at  Troy,  where  he 
died  in  1891.  The  records  speak  of  a  Rev.  I.  P.  Burnham  being 
called  September  30,  1851.  When  called  to  the  ministry  Mr.  Roof  had 
already  been  practicing  law  at  Canajoharie  for  a  decade  or  more. 
Nothing  further  is  known  of  him  except  that  he  came  to  the  church 
in  some  capacity.  During  his  supply  the  church  voted  to  quit  the 
denomination  and  join  the  "Old  School  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Albany,"  but  a  later  consistory  repudiated  this  action.  From  1854 
thro  1855  Rev.  Adam  H.  Van  Vranken  of  Glen  supplied  the  pulpit, 
and  from  1858  thro  1860  the  Rev.  Ransford  Wells  of  Fultonville 
did  the  same. 

The  next  minister  was  Rev.  John  Nott,  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  Nott 
(President  of  Union  College  for  sixty-three  years).  Mr.  Nott  taught 
at  Union  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  then,  for  more  than 
ten    years    served    the    2d    Rotterdam    ("Cobblestone")    church,    after 

16 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

which  he  spent  some  years  in  the  south.  Returning  in  1861  he  took 
up  his  residence  at  Fonda  and  began  a  supply  work  at  Auriesville 
which  lasted  for  upwards  of  seventeen  years,  or  until  1878,  the  year 
of  his  death.  In  1875  Hon.  John  H.  Starin  of  Fultonville  gave  the 
church  organ,  and  in  1876,  when  the  church  burned,  be  gave  $500 
toward  rebuilding.  The  new  church  cost  $3,180,  and  was  dedicated 
December  6,  1870.  Rev.  Joseph  P.  Dysart  of  the  Glen  church  (cf ) 
began  to  supply  the  pulpit  in  September,  1878,  continuing  for  three 
months. 

Rev.  Francis  M.  Kip  was  the  next  supply  (cf  Fultonville),  com- 
ing in  1879  and  remaining  thro  a  part  of  1883,  serving  for  a  while 
after  he  had  resigned  his  charge  in  Fultonville.  His  next  and  last 
field  of  work  was  Harlingen,  N.  J.,  where  he  spent  twenty  years  in 
the  active  ministry.  He  died  in  1911.  Rev.  John  C.  Boyd  of  the 
Fonda  church  (cf)  was  the  next  supply.  He  began  in  1884  and  con- 
tinued until  1899.  He  died  October  12,  1901.  Mr.  J.  Abrew  Smith, 
formerly  at  Fort  Herkimer  (cf)  supplied  the  church  in  1900,  and  Rev. 
J.  H.  Enders  (cf  Chittenango)  in  1901,  and  Rev.  John  P.  Faber,  who 
had  been  a  pastor  at  Stuyvesant  Falls  (1899-1901),  and  was  pursuing 
a  course  of  medicine  at  Albany,  supplied  the  pulpit  in  1902,  while 
living  at  Auriesville.  He  is  now  a  resident  physician  at  Schenectady. 
Rev.  Peter  A.  Wessels  began  a  supply  in  1903  which  continued  till 
1909  when  Rev.  E.  J.  Meeker  of  the  Glen  church  began  to  fill  the 
pulpit  and  remained  until  November,  1914,  when  he  accepted  a  call 
to  the  Lodi  church.  Mr.  Wessels'  first  work  was  in  the  western 
missionary  fields,  followed  by  a  two  year  pastorate  at  Columbia 
(cf).  Next  he  went  to  South  Glens  Falls  and  in  1903  took  up  the 
work  at  Auriesville.     W.  H.  Kroeger,  a  layman,  now  supplies. 


CANAJOHARIE  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  name  of  the  town,  often 
found  spelled  "Canajohie,"  is  In- 
dian, and  is  said  to  mean  "whirl- 
ing stone"  or  "stone  in  the  pot." 
A  writer  of  more  than  a  half 
century  ago  speaks  of  seeing  deep 
bowls  at  the  foot  of  a  cascade  half 
a  mile  from  the  village  where  large 
stones  were  whirled  around  at  a 
rapid  rate.  Other  Indian  names  as 
Cayuga  and  Niagara  are  smoother 
of  pronunciation  but  even  Canajo- 
harie  is  preferable  to  Cato  or 
Homer  or  Manlius  or  Pompey. 
The  Dutch  who  clung  to  the  In- 
dian outwitted  the  Yankee  who 
copied  the  Roman  and  Greek.  The 
Indians  called  the  hill  on  which  the 
Canajoharie  castle  was  built,  "Ta- 
ragh-jo-res"  ("hill  of  health").  The 
village  was  incorporated  in  1829 
and  was  locally  known  as  "Roof's 
Village."      At    this    time,    and    for 


i; 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

many  years,  Judge  Alfred  Conkling  (father  of  Senator  Roscoe  Conk- 
ling)  was  the  leading  legal  light  of  the  community.  He  was  a  Rep- 
resentative in  the  XVII  Congress  (1821-18:23).  While  Canajoharie 
is  not  identical  in  any  way  with  the  old  and  former  "Sand  Hill" 
church  (1750-1838)  still  it  may  he  rightfully  regarded  as  a  suc- 
cessor to  it.  In  the  call  to  Rev.  John  Wack,  the  last  of  the  "Sand 
Hill"  ministers  that  church  is  called  "The  Canajoharie  Church."  But 
Canajoharie  must  share  any  such  honor  with  Fort  Plain,  if,  indeed, 
we  must  not  put  the  latter  first  in  the  line  of  direct  descent,  even 
tho  this  church  was  organized  a  few  years  previously.  The  "Sand 
Hill"  church  is  treated  of  under  the  "extinct"  churches  of  the  Classis. 
The  first  permanent  religious  work  in  this  village  was  that  of  the 
Dutch  church.  Rev.  John  J.  Wack  of  the  "Sand  Hill"  organization 
raised  funds  with  which  to  build  what  he  called  a  "Union  Church," 
but  it  was  expressly  stipulated  {hat  while  all  denominations  might 
use  this  building  for  worship  the  Methodists  and  Universalists  were 
forever  debarred.  Wack  probably  had  some  personal  grudge  against 
these  two  non-union  denominations.  The  church  was  built  on  what 
is  now  the  tow-path  of  the  Erie  Canal  in  the  year  18<>8.  Canajoharie 
at  the  time  was  a  community  of  half  a  hundred  houses.  A  Rev. 
George  B.  Miller,  a  school  teacher  in  the  village  (afterwards  a  Hart- 
wick  Seminary  professor)  used  to  preach  in  this  Union  church.  This 
was  during  his  residence  here,  from  1818  to  1827,  tho  Dominy  Wack 
of  the  Dutch  church  at  "Sand  Hill"  and  others  also  held  forth  tor 
years  before  this. 

When  the  Reformed  church  was  organized  in  1827  they  began 
to  use  this  building.  Items  of  cost  of  repairs  to  the  same  appear 
in  the  records.  The  organization  was  effected  at  the  house  of  Gerrit 
A.  Lansing  who  with  Silas  Stillwell,  Henry  Loucks,  and  John  Cornue 
were  made  the  first  consistory.  Others  present  at  the  meeting  were 
Jacob  Hees,  John  Cooper,  John  W.  Wemple,  and  Jacob  Gray.  Mr. 
Cornue  soon  after  this  left  the  village  and  Simeon  H.  Calhoun,  who 
later  became  a  missionary  at  Mt.  Lebanon,  Syria,  was  elected  in  his 
place.  After  using  this  "Union  Church"  for  ten  years,  while  likely 
other  denominations  also  used  it,  the  Lutherans  came  into  real  posses- 
sion of  it,  and  the  Reformed  church  found  itself  compelled  to  build, 
as  did  likewise  the  Methodist  church,  both  of  whom  built  in  1841. 
The  church  built  by  the  Methodists,  near  the  modern  Beechnut  plant, 
was  destroyed  by  fire  January  2,  1915,  and  rebuilt  the  same  year.  The 
Reformed  church  was  dedicated  on  March  10,  1842,  Rev.  Dr.  Wyckoff 
of  the  Second  Albany  church  preaching  the  sermon.  The  Sunday 
school  work  was  begun  with  the  organization  of  the  church.  Later 
there  was  a  union  Sunday  school  work  carried  on  by  the  Dutch 
church  and  that  of  the  Methodists  who,  until  1841  were  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river  at  Palatine  Bridge. 

The  next  record  of  incorporation  is  dated  October  7,  1841,  and 
herein  are  the  names  of  John  Frey,  John  A.  Ehle,  and  Elisha  W.  Bige- 
low.  John  Frey  was  the  grandson  of  Hendrick  Frey,  the  first  settler 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Mohawk  in  Montgomery  county  and  who 
built  a  log  house  at  Palatine  Bridge  in  1700.  John  A.  Ehle  was  a 
decendant  of  Rev.  Ehle  (Oel)  the  missionary  to  the  Mohawks  who 
lived  in  what  is  now  called  Fort  Ehle  (near  Fort  Plain).  The  in- 
corporation record  states  that  "the  church  was  organized,  establish- 
ed and  in  continuous  operation  since  1827." 

18 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  apparent  religious  awakening  (not 
to  say  sectarian)  about  Canajoharie  at  this  time,  as  evidenced  in 
church  organizations.  The  county  clerk's  records  show  the  follow- 
ing incorporations, — "Second  Methodist"  (1838),  "Methodist"  (1840J, 
"Dutch  Reformed'  and  "English  Lutheran"  (1841),  "German  Luther- 
an" (1844),  and  the  "St.  Polycarp  P.  E."  (1852),  later  changed  to  the 
"Good  Shepherd."  This  was  just  prior  to  the  erection  of  the  stone 
edifice  (1841)  while  the  church  was  pastorless.  John  Frey  (father 
of  S.  L.  Frey)  gave  the  land  for  the  church.  A  third  incorporation 
is  found,  recorded  September  24,  1867,  this  patterned  after  that  of 
the  Second  Dutch  church  of  Albany,  which  a  number  of  the  churches 
in  the  valley  in  those  days  followed.  After  the  building  of  the  par- 
sonage by  Rev.  George  Davis  in  1912,  a  fourth  incorporation  was 
effected.  In  other  places  of  this  record  mention  is  made  not  only  of 
the  old  original  Canajoharie  church  at  "Sand  Hill,"  but  as  well  to  the 
Canajoharie  Seceding  church  (1822-1842),  and  the  Canajoharie  Inde- 
pendent church  of  1816,  which  was  finally  merged  into  the  "Wycko- 
fite"  church,  and  also  to  the  "Wyckofite"  or  "True  Reformed"  church 
which  was  incorporated  May  26,  1825,  and  of  the  "Reformed  Cal- 
vinistic"  church  which  was  incorporated   May  8,   1806. 

The  present  Canajoharie  church  was  organized  in  IS.'?  when  the 
town  embraced  a  large  area  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  The 
church  was  gathered  together  by  Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda  (later  pastor 
at  Caughnawaga)  who  was  also  preaching  at  the  same  time  at  Maple- 
town  and  the  original  Sprakers  church.  He  supplied  Canajoharie 
for  four  years.  Van  Olinda  was  born  near  by,  in  the  town  of  Charles- 
ton (18(70),  and  spent  nearly  his  whole  ministry  in  the  Montgomery 
Classis.  After  leaving  Canajoharie  he  served  New  Paltz  for  a  decade 
or  more,  then  returning  to  Caughnawaga  (1844-1858)  where  he  died 
while  pastor.  In  1830  the  Rev.  Ransford  Wells  became  the  first  pastor  at 
Canajoharie.  In  the  first  year  sixty  members  were  received.  Wells  was 
called  to  the  Nassau  church  in  August,  1832,  but  declined,  tho  a  year 
later,  in  October,  1833,  he  left  the  field  for  Newark,  N.  J.  After  an 
absence  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  returned  to  the  Montgomery 
Classis  for  a  ten  year  ministry  at  Fultonville  (cf).  He  died  March 
4,  1889.  at  the  age  of  eighty-four.  Dr.  Wells'  son,  Theodore  W. 
Welles  has  been  in  the  Reformed  ministry  for  half  a  century,  and  is 
now  living  at   Paterson,  N.  J.     He  was  licensed  by  this   Classis. 

The  second  pastor  was  Rev.  Richard  D.  Van  Kleek  (1834-1836) 
who  had  been  a  teacher  for  a  few  years,  and  after  leaving  this  field 
returned  to  this  work  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  died  in  1870  in 
Jersey  City,  N.  J.  Rev.  Samuel  Robertson  was  his  successor  I 
1839)  who  went  next  to  Schoharie  and  spent  the  last  twenty  years 
of  his  ministry  in  missionary  work  in  the  west.  He  died  in  L869. 
At  this  time  the  village  came  into  possible  prominence  thro  the  Cat- 
skill  and  Canajoharie  Railroad  incorporated  in  1830  and  built  as  far 
as  Cooksburg  at  a  cost  of  $400,000.  But  in  1842  it  was  abandoned 
and  the  track  taken  up. 

Rev.  Edward  Osborne  Dunning  came  from  the  Rome  Congrega- 
tional church  in  1842  and  remained  thro  most  of  1845.  This  with 
Rome  (1840-1841)  were  his  only  charges.  Leaving  this  field  he  be- 
gan a  work  of  many  years  with  the  American  Bible  Society  in  the 
Southern  states.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was  a  chaplain  stationed 
at    Cumberland,   Md.      During   the   last   few   years   of   his   life    he    was 

19 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSiS 

interested  in  the  exploration  of  ancient  mounds  in  various  parts  of 
the  south.  Since  leaving  Canajoharie  he  had  always  made  New 
Haven,  Ct.  (his  birthplace),  his  residence.  Here  he  died  March 
23,  1874.  Rev.  Jas.  McFarlane  of  Rosendale  was  the  next  pastor  (1845- 
1848).  After  two  other  pastorates  in  the  Reformed  church  he  en- 
tered the  Presbyterian  ministry.  He  died  in  1871.  The  bell  was 
bought  in  1846  but  cracked  with  use,  and  in  having  it  re-cast  by  the 
Meneeleys  they  were  directed  to  change  its  tone  so  it  could  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Lutheran  or  Methodist  bell.  Rev.  John  DeWitt 
was  next  installed  as  pastor  in  1848  and  remained  thro  the  following 
year.  On  leaving  here  he  went  to  Millstone,  N.  J.,  from  which  church 
he  was  called  to  a  professoriate  at  New  Brunswick  Seminary  which 
he  held  for  .thirty  years.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Old  Testament 
Revision  Committee. 

Rev.  Nathan  F.  Chapman  came  next  (1850-1854),  his  first  charge, 
and  went  from  this  field  to  Plattekill.  He  died  in  1893  at  Saugerties. 
He  was  followed  in  the  pastorate  by  Rev.  Eben  S.  Hammond  who 
served  the  church  as  stated  supply  during  1854  thro  1856  in  which 
latter  year  he  went  to  the  Columbia  church  for  a  few  years  (cf). 
He  died  in  1873,  May  24.  In  1856  a  U.  S.  dime  was  officially  de- 
clared the  seal  of  the  church.  Rev.  Alonzo  Welton  supplied  the 
pulpit  from  October,  1856,  to  February,  1857,  and  then  was  called,  but 
declined.  Rev.  Benj.  F.  Romaine  who  had  been  editor  of  the  "American 
Spectator"  (Albany)  for  fifteen  years  began  a  supply  of  the  pulpit 
in  1857  and  after  a  year  or  more  accepted  a  call,  was  installed,  and 
continued  with  the  church  until  October,  1862.  His  last  work  was 
as  secretary  of  the  Colonization  Society  of  Ohio.  He  died  in  1874. 
During  Romaine's  pastorate  (1858)  the  church  was  renovated  through- 
out, the  galleries  removed,  the  pulpit  changed  from  the  south  end 
to  the  north  and  the  seats  reversed.  The  cloth  covering  the  pulpit, 
the  gift  of  the  North  Dutch  church  of  Albany  (recently  repaired) 
was  originally  given  to  the  latter  church  by  the  family  of  Patroon 
Van  Rensselaer.  Venerable  mantle!  what  theology,  what  sympathy, 
what  Gospel,  it  must  have  supported  thro  a  century  or  more  of  use. 
Following  this  pastorate  of  Romaine  came  Rev.  Benjamin  Van 
Zandt  who  had  served  Presbyterian  churches  for  a  few  years.  His 
mind  seemed  particuarly  attuned  to  the  letter  of  the  constitution,  and 
Canajoharie  was  truly  "disciplined"  while  he  was  pastor  (1862-1869). 
His  next  church  was  at  Leeds,  and  the  last  seventeen  years  of  his 
life  he  spent  at  Catskill.     He  died  in  1895  at  the  age  of  86. 

Rev.  Richard  R.  Williams  was  the  next  pastor  (1870-1883),  one  of 
the  few  longest  of  the  pastorates  and  one  of  the  most  successful.  He 
came  from  Union  Seminary  and  was  ordained  by  the  Classis  and  in- 
stalled over  the  church  in  1870.  He  was  forty-five  years  a  member  of 
this  Classis.  Leaving  the  field  he  took  up  literary  work,  becoming  editor, 
as  he  was  owner  of  Iron  Age  until  his  death  in  1915.  Rev.  Dr.  Pearse 
united  in  1873,  making  these  men  long  termers  in  Montgomery.  Rev. 
John  A.  Lansing  supplied  the  pulpit  after  Williams'  leaving  and  until 
his  death  in  July,  1884.  Rev.  Francis  S.  Haines,  another  Union 
Seminary  man,  was  ordained  by  Montgomery  Classis  in  1884  and 
served  the  church  for  eight  years.  During  his  ministry  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty-one  members  were  received.  Later  Mr.  Haines  re- 
entered the  Presbyterian  ministry.  On  leaving  Canajoharie  he  be- 
came pastor  at  Easton,  Pa.,  and  in  1903  began  work  at  Goshen,  N.  Y. 

20 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Rev.  Mark  A.  Denraan  came  to  Canajoharie  in  1891  from  the 
Ganesvoort  church  and  remained  thro  a  part  of  1896.  For  some  years 
Mr.  Denman  has  been  engaged  in  business  at  Springfield,  Atass.  On 
leaving  Canajoharie  he  became  pastor  of  the  Chatham  church,  then 
went  to  a  Brooklyn  pastorate,  and  next  to  the  Springfield  Memorial 
church.  He  has  written  an  informing  "History  of  the  Republic  of 
Honduras."  Rev.  Joseph  D.  Peters  was  called  in  October,  1897,  and 
served  the  church  for  twelve  years.  Since  leaving  the  field  he  has 
done  fine  work  in  the  First  Hoboken  church  (N.  J.).  Rev.  George 
Davis  came  in  1911  and  died  while  pastor,  in  March,  1914.  Mr.  Davis 
is  remembered  as  a  faithful  pastor  and  a  prodigous  student.  Follow- 
ing Mr.  Davis,  Rev.  Victor  J.  Blekkink  of  Long  Branch,  N.  J.,  came  to 
the  church  in  October,  1914.  Mr.  Blekkink  is  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Blekkink,  Professor  of  Theology  in  the  Western  Theological  Semin- 
ary   (Holland,    Mich.),   a    former   pastor   at   Trinity   of   Amsterdam. 

CICERO  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  town  of  Cicero,  which 
is  in  Onondaga  County,  ten 
miles  from  Syracuse,  near 
South  Bay,  was  formed  in 
1807.  A  Presbyterian  church 
was  organized  here  (1819)  of 
which  Rev.  Jas.  Shepard  was 
the  pastor  and  from  which 
at  the  inception  of  the  Re- 
formed Dutch  church  work, 
members  were  received  by 
letter.  The  first  religious 
work  done  in  the  community 
was  probably  by  the  Dutch 
church,  since  Rev.  Jacob 
Sickles  while  the  pastor 
of  the  Kinder  hook 
church  (1801-1 835)  was  sent 
by  the  Domestic  Board  to  this  community  to  arrange  for  gospel 
work.  This  was  in  September,  1803,  and  Sickles'  destination  was 
Fort  Brewerton,  four  miles  to  the  north  of  Cicero  (then  called 
"Cody's  Corners").  But  on  the  way  he  stopped  at  Trask's  Tavern 
and  services  were  held  in  Aaron  Bellows'  cooper  shop.  This  place 
was  about  three  miles  south  of  Cicero.  Services  which  resulted  in 
the  formation  of  the  Dutch  church  had  been  held  for  some  time  in 
the  village,  the  preaching  being  done  by  men  of  the  Cayuga  Classis 
as  Yates  of  Chittenango,  and  Evans  of  Owasco,  and  Abeel  of 
Geneva.  Acting  on  the  authority  of  Classis  (Cayuga)  the  three 
mentioned  met  on  November  12,  1835  and  organized  the  Reformed 
Protestant  Dutch  Church  of  Cicero.  There  were  thirty- one  charter 
members,  and  these  chose  for  the  first  consistory.  Lot  Hamilton, 
Peter  Colyer,  Henry  Nobles,  Elders,  and  Isaac  Cody,  Daniel  Van 
Hoesen,   Peter  Dominic,  Asher   Smith,   deacons. 

At  the  organization  a  church  was  already  in  process  of  construc- 
tion  for   conveyance   was   given   March   5,   1836.      For   sometime   Rev. 


21 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

William  Evans  supplied  the  pulpit,  for  which  he  was  paid  $35  month- 
ly. His  service  was  continued  thro  1838.  During  1839  a  Rev.  Oren 
Hyde  supplied  the  pulpit.  He  lived  at  Fayetteville  for  thirty  years. 
On  November  29,  1840,  Rev.  Amos  W.  Seely,  who  later  sup- 
plied Frankfort,  came  from  the  Hillsdale,  N.  Y.  Presbyterian  church 
to  begin  his  pastorate,  tho  he  was  not  installed  until  September  21, 
1841.  Mr.  Seely  did  splendid  work,  his  records  being  remarkable 
for  their  neatness  and  care.  He  remained  five  years.  He  died 
September  12,  1865,  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  after  a  retirement  of  ten  years. 
Rev.  William  E.  Turner,  the  pastor  at  Arcadia,  supplied  the  pulpit 
and  looked  after  the  church  during  most  of  1845.  During  1846  and 
1847,  Rev.  Truman  Baldwin  was  the  supply.  At  this  time,  tho  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions  had  aided  the  church,  there  was  a 
movement  to  join  the  Onondaga  Presbytery  with  the  thot  that  a 
closer  touch  with  a  denomination  that  was  strong  in  the  vicinity, 
might  relieve  it  of  the  financial  distress.  On  the  first  Sunday  of 
August,  1848,  the  Rev.  John  Liddell,  who  had  just  finished  a  decade 
of  work  in  the  Lodi  church  (cf),  began  to  supply  the  pulpit  and 
continued  thro   1849.     He  died  is   1850. 

In  November,  1849,  the  Rev.  N.  DuBois  Williamson  came  to  the 
church,  remaining  thro  May,  1850.  After  a  number  of  other  brief 
pastorates  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  South  Bend,  Ind.  church 
where  he  remained  for  a  quarter-century.  It  was  the  home  church  of 
Vice-President  Colfax.  Mr.  Willaimson  died  September  12,  1896. 
Following  him  at  Cicero  was  Rev.  John  DuBois  (1850-1854)  who 
came  in  July.  A  house  belonging  to  Dr.  Van  Dyke  was  bought  for 
a  parsonage  in  1851.  Mr.  DuBois  died  in  1884  while  supplying  Ma- 
makating,  N.  Y.  (cf  Manheim).  Rev.  S.  N.  Robinson  supplied  the 
pulpit  for  the  last  four  months  of  1854,  declining  a  call  to  the  church. 
The  pulpit  was  supplied  thro  1856  by  Mr.   Robinson. 

Rev.  John  Gray  of  Ghent  was  next  called.  He  was  a  Scotchman, 
but  His  ministry  was  mostly  in  America  (Cohoes,  Schodack).  He 
came  to  the  church  in  the  early  part  of  1856  and  resigned  after  a 
year.  He  died  in  August,  1865.  His  first  wife  was  a  sister  of  Robert 
Morrison.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gray  spent  seven  years  in  missionary  work 
in  Tartary.  Later  he  was  associated  for  some  years  with  Czar 
Nicholas  in  educational  work  at  St.  Petersburg.  On  July  5,  1857,  the 
Rev.  F.  Hebard  began  a  year's  supply  of  the  pulpit.  During  the  war 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  stated  supply  until  Rev.  G.  W.  Humpers- 
ly  came  in  April,  1863,  and  remained  two  years.  After  his  going 
another  year  of  occasional  supply  ensues,  when  Rev.  Levi  Schell  be- 
gan to  preach  at  Cicero,  also  serving  Clay  (Lutheran)  nearby.  The 
consistory  seems  to  have  held  meetings  about  this  time  biennially. 
Rev.  D.  W.  Lawrence  supplied  the  pulpit  for  two  years  from  April, 
1874.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  preacher  after  April,  1876,  until 
1879,  when  Rev.  Jas.  Edmondson  (cf  Mohawk)  came  and  remained 
thro  1881.  During  1881  and  1882,  Rev.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock,  a  member 
of  the  Syracuse  Reformed  church,  who  was  pursuing  his  studies  at 
Auburn   Seminary,   supplied   the   pulpit. 

Rev.  H.  A.  Strail  supplied  the  pulpit  during  1883  and  1884,  while 
attending  Auburn,  and  for  several  years  Auburn  students  continued 
to  do  the  work  at  Cicero.  He  proved  himself  to  be  the  right  man 
in  this  critical  history  of  the  church,  and  was  of  inestimable  help  to 
the  people.     On  October  5,  1882,  the  church  was  destroyed  by  fire.     Rev. 

22 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Evert  Van  Slyke,  pastor  of  the  Syracuse  church,  led  in  a  movement 
to  help  the  people  rebuild.  In  a  week  $1,500  had  been  raised,  and 
the  church  decided  to  build  a  $3,000  edifice.  The  Utica  church  gave 
$100.  The  church  Building  Fund  gave  $1,000.  Rev.  Babcock  gave  $20. 
The  Building  Fund  also  gave  $300  toward  the  parsonage.  In  1888 
Rev.  B.  E.  Fake   (Lutheran)   supplied. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Enders,  Synodical.  Missionary,  began  to  look  after  the 
enterprise.  Rev.  Elmer  E.  Smith  (Butte,  Mont.)  a  student,  supplied 
the  church  during  1890.  During  1891  the  church  continued  to  be 
supplied  by  students  and  by  Mr.  Enders.  Rev.  Frederick  W.  Ruhl 
came  to  Cicero  from  Prattsville,  N.  Y.  in  1891,  toward  the  close  of 
the  year,  and  resigned  to  go  to  Manheim  (cf)  in  May,  1892.  Rev. 
A.  J.  Wilcox  began  now  to  supply  the  pulpit,  and  a  Mr.  Mason,  after 
him  (students),  to  be  followed  by  Rev.  Dr.  Emmons  in  June,  1897, 
who  remained  until  April,  1898.  Rev.  G.  E.  Harsh  began  a  supply 
in  the  Fall  of  1899  and  continued  thro  the  Spring  of  1900.  He  is 
now  a   Lutheran  pastor  in   Ohio. 

Rev.  Henry  Smith  was  called  in  the  Summer  of  1901,  and  re- 
mained until  May  11,  1902.  Rev.  John  Erler  of  Highlands,  N.  J.  was 
called  in  August,  1903,  and  served  the  church  until  the  Fall  of  1904. 
He  is  now  in  the  Lutheran  church  at  Rockwood,  Pa.  From  this  time 
on  until  the  summer  preaching  of  Mr.  De  Hollander  in  1907,  there  was 
occasional  preaching.  Richard  V.  Curnow  (Meshoppen,  Pa.)  of 
Auburn  Seminary  was  asked  to  supply  for  a  year,  and  was  fol- 
lowed by  Mr.  Rippey,  another  Auburn  student,  for  a  second  year. 
Mr.  Spencer  supplied  during  1911.  In  the  Fall  of  1911,  Rev.  W.  N.  P. 
Dailey,  having  been  appointed  Classical  Missionary,  went  to  the 
field,  supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  while,  and  later  the  church  called  Rev. 
John  A.  De  Hollander  of  Annville,  Ky.,  who  came  on  the  field  in 
June,  1912.  Mr.  De  Hollander  resigned  April  1,  1915,  and  is  in  busi- 
ness at  Irondequoit.  Garrett  DeMotts  (N.  B.  '16)  supplied  the  pulpit 
during  the  summer  of  1915.  Jos.  M.  Spalt,  a  lay  evangelist  began 
work  on  the  field  November  1,  1915.  Not  far  from  Cicero  is  a  settle- 
ment called  "Stone  Arabia,"  the  original  settlers  coming  from  Mont- 
gomery County.  An  Onondaga  county  History  refers  to  the  "Stone 
Arabia   Reformed  Dutch   Church"  in  the  town  of  Cicero. 


COLUMBIA  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  beginning  of  the 
Columbia  church  takes  us 
back  to  July  8,  1798  when 
Rev.  Dedrick  Christian 
Andreas  Pick,  V.  D.  M. 
(as  he  always  signed  his 
name),  who  at  the  time 
was  pastor  of  the  large 
German  Flatts  congrega- 
tion, ordained  the  first 
Columbia  church  consis- 
tory. A  year  later  the 
church  was  incorporated. 
For  several  years  the  congregation  used  the  barn  of  Coonrod  Oren- 

23 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

dorf  (still  standing)  for  a  place  of  worship.  In  1803  plans  were  laid 
for  a  church  building,  which  was  completed,  at  least  sufficiently  for 
worship,  in  the  year  1806,  tho  it  was  not  wholly  finished  until  New 
Years  of  1810.  It  cost  $4,000.  On  November  1,  1806,  the  first  mem- 
bers were  received,  fifty-five  in  number,  the  Rev.  John  J.  Wack,  at 
the  time  the  pastor  of  the  old  "Sand  Hill"  church  (cf),  conducting  the 
service.  Rev.  John  P.  Spinner,  for  nearly  half  a  century  pastor  at 
German  Flatts,  frequently  preached  at  Columbia  in  its  earliest  days. 
The  settlement  of  the  first  pastor,  Rev.  John  Bartlett  occurred 
in  1811,  who  remained  three  years.  Rev.  David  De  Voe  began  a  four 
years'  supply  in  1816  while  pastor  at  St.  Johnsville.  Mr.  De  Voe  was 
an  active  pioneer  in  central  New  York,  and  organized  several  Re- 
formed churches.  After  leaving  Columbia  he  remained  fifteen  years 
longer  at  St.  Johnsville,  and  later  returned  to  supply  Columbia  during 
the  years  1836-1839.  He  died  in  1843.  Rev.  John  Rawls  was  called 
in  1819,  and  came  to  the  church  from  New  Brunswick  Seminary, 
where  he  had  just  graduated.  He  was  ordained,  and  installed  over 
the  church  by  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  and  remained  two  years. 
Columbia  seems  to  have  been  his  only  charge.  Rev.  Isaac  S.  Ketchum 
(cf  Stone  Arabia)  occasionally  supplied  the  Columbia  pulpit  between 
the  pastorate  of  Rawls  and  that  of  Hangen,  which  began  in  1826. 
Rev.  John  Rawls  was  called  in  1819,  and  came  to  the  ~shurch  from 
Brunswick  Seminary  where  he  had  just  graduated.  He  was 
ordamxL  and  installed  over  the  church  by\the  Classis  of  Montgomery, 
and  remained  two  years.  Columbia  seems%  to  have,  been  his  only 
charge.  Rev.  Tsaac  S.  Ketchum  (cf  Stone  Arabia)  occasionally  sup- 
plied the  Columbia^ptdpk  between  the  pastorat^of  Rawls  and  that 
of-Hangen  which  began  misa^. 

Rev.  Jacob  W.  Hangen  came  from  the  German  Reformed  church 
to  Columbia  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  and  served  the  church  for 
six  years,  going  to  Mapletown  and  Currytown  where  he  supplied  for 
five  years  (1832-1836).  After  several  other  pastorates,  the  last  in 
Trappe,  Pa.,  Mr.  Hangen  died  February  23,  1843,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight.  During  Hangen's  pastorate  at  Columbia  a  great  revival  took 
place  resulting  in  large  accessions  to  the  church.  At  this  time  a 
colony  from  Columbia,  nearly  all  of  whom  were  Mr.  Hangen's  mem- 
bers, under  the  leadership  of  Rev.  George  W.  Gale  (Union  '14, 
Auburn  '17),  Principal  at  the  time  of  Oneida  Institute,  settled  at 
Galesburg,  Illinois  and  founded  Knox  College.  There  were  one 
hundred  and  seventy  members  of  the  church  at  this  time.  During 
1834  the  Rev.  David  De  Voe  supplied  both  Columbia  and  the 
church  at  Warren.  In  1836  David  De  Voe  returned  to  Columbia  for 
three  er  -fe#r  years  supply.  Following  De  Voe  was  the  Rev.  George 
W.  Lewis  a  Lutheran  minister  who  supplied  the  church  one  year. 
Rev.  John  H.  Ackerson  on  his  graduation  from  New  Brunswick  was 
called  to  Columbia,  and  ordained  b}'  the  Classis  of  Montgomery  and 
installed  over  the  church  in  December,  1839,  remaining  pastor  until 
1841.  For  the  three  years  following  he  was  pastor  of  the  Schaghticoke 
church,  but  in  1843  he  was  deposed  from  the  ministry  for  unbecoming 
conduct.  He  died  in  1849.  While  Ackerson  was  pastor  (1840)  the 
church  was  all  but  destroyed  by  a  fierce  wind  storm,  which  occurred 
during  a  service.  The  structure  was  taken  down  and  at  once  rebuilt. 
Deacon  John  Edick  was  killed  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  church.  After 
Ackerson   the  church   was   supplied   for   a   while   by   Rev.   Jedediah   L. 

24 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASS1S 

jftff 

Stark    (1843— cf   Mohawk),   Rev.    D.    B.    Hall    (1844-)    and    Rev.   W.    L. 

James   (1852-1855). 

Rev.  Jedediah  Lathrop  Stark  spent  twenty  years  in  Montgomery 
Classis  supplying  and  preaching  at  Columbia,  Mohawk,  German 
Flatts,  Frankfort,  and  Buel.  His  last  service  was  at  German  Flatts. 
He  died  in  1862  at  Mohawk.  David  B.  Hall  came  from  the  Congrega- 
tional church  to  Columbia.  He  was  a  Princeton  ('42)  man,  and  was 
supplying  Columbia  a  couple  of  years  when  ordained  an  evangelist  by 
the  Pawlet  Cong.  Asso.  in  1846.  T-bc  only  pa3toratc  he  ever  had  was 
at-Clevolan-d— fefc).  He  died  May  1,  1898  at  Duanesburgh.  He  was  a 
virile  preacher,  evangelistic  and  optimistic  (despite  a  domestic  afflic- 
tion),  and   served  the  church   over   half  a   century. 

Rev.  Mr.  James  died  at  Kingston,  October  20,  1887,  aged 
seventy-six.  The  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  Minutes  gives  the  name 
of  Rev.  Jas.  Murphy  as  the  supply  of  Columbia  during  the  years  1851 
thro  1853,  and  the  name  of  (Woodbridge)  L.  James  as  supply  for  1855. 
Rev.  Dr.  Murphy  preached  for  the  church  in  1857,  but  in  this 
year  the  church  became  the  owner  of  a  large  parsonage  and  Rev. 
Eben  S.  Hammond  who  came  to  Columbia  in  1857,  was  the  first 
pastor  to  occupy  this  manse  at  Columbia  Centre.  In  the  Synod 
minutes  of  1858  the  church  is  credited  with  fifty  families  and  seventy- 
five  members.  The  next  pastor  of  the  church  was  the  Rev.  Henry 
Aurand  who  came  from  the  German  Reformed  church,  and  began 
his  work  in  1860,  remaining  thro  1863.  He  died  in  1876.  In  order  to 
meet  the  salary  of  Mr.  Aurand  the  parsonage  was  mortgaged,  to  be 
later  foreclosed,  thus  losing  it  to  the  church. 

Rev.  Andrew  Parsons  of  the  Richfield  Springs  Presbyterian 
church  supplied  the  pulpit  during  1864.  Rev.  Matthew  Bronson  oc- 
cupied the  pulpit  during  the  years  1865  thro  1867  (an  Asahel  Bronson 
is  on  Record  of  Classis)  and  lived  in  the  house  next  east  to  the 
church.  Columbia  is  reported  "vacant"  to  Classis  from  1864  to  1871. 
In  1871  Rev.  James  M.  Compton  began  a  five  years  pastorate,  during 
which  the  church  was  extensively  repaired.  After  preaching  at 
Sprakers  and  Mapletown,  Mr.  Compton  returned  to  Columbia  in  1888 
and  passed  the  rest  of  his  days  there.  He  died  December  12,  1891, 
and  is  buried  with  his  wife  in  the  church  cemetery. 

Rev.  John  W.  Hammond  supplied  the  pulpit  during  the  winter 
of  1875-1876,  during  which  time  a  great  revival  took  place  and  twenty- 
seven  united  with  the  church.  It  was  Mr.  Hammond's  last  service 
since  he  died,  November  23,  1876.  In  July,  1876,  Rev.  Rufus  M. 
Stanbrough  came  to  the  field  and  remained  thro  1881.  The  present 
parsonage  was  secured  in  Mr.  Stanbrough's  pastorate,  the  church 
and  Sunday  school  showing  decided  gains.  He  had  two  other  charges 
after  leaving  Columbia  and  died  at  Newburgh  in   1905. 

In  1883  and  1884,  Rev.  Peter  A.  Wessels  was  the  pastor,  during 
whose  time  the  church  sheds  were  built,  the  present  parsonage  and 
barn  erected,  and  the  church  re-incorporated.  Mr.  Wessels  supplied 
for  a  time  at  Auriesville  but  has  lived  at  Amsterdam  now  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  without  any  charge.  After  a  lapse  of  a  year  Theodore 
A  Beekman  became  pastor  in  November,  1885,  and  remained  two  years. 
He  came  from  the  seminary  to  the  church  and  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled by  Montgomery  Classis.  Mr.  Beekman  is  at  present  in  the 
Rosendale,  N.  Y.  church.  In  1888  Mr.  Compton  began  his  second 
pastorate.    During  the  summers  of  1892  and  1893  the  pulpit  was  supplied 

25 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

by  seminary  students,  Clinton  W.  Clowe,  who  is  now  pastor  at 
Schoharie  and  S.  G.  Parent  who  is  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
at  Mariaville.  Rev.  William  H.  Shelland  was  called  to  the  pastorate 
in  1894  and  remained  thro  1896.  Nothing  further  is  known  of  him. 
During  the  Summer  and  Fall  oi  1897  the  Rev.  George  Reynold,  pastor 
of  the  Richfield  Springs  Presbyterian  church  supplied  the  pulpit.  The 
last  settled  pastor  was  Rev.  Fletcher  V.  W.  Lehman  who  supplied 
the  summer  of  1898  and  who  was  ordained  by  the  Classis  of  Mont- 
gomery and  installed  over  the  church  in  1899,  on  his  graduation  from 
New   Brunswick. 

Since  the  year  1902  the  church  has  had  no  regular  services  save 
during  the  summer  time  when  the  pulpit  has  been  supplied  by  students 
from  the  seminary.  The  only  other  supplies  have  been  the  Synodical 
Missionary  and  later,  occasionally,  the  Classical  Missionary.  The 
students  who  have  supplied,  and  their  present  work,  as  far  as  we  have 
been  able  to  obtain  the  information,  are  as  follows:  190:2 — Henry  Van 
Woert,  New  Brunswick  '04,  now  at  Selkirk  N.  Y.  1903 — Frderick  E. 
Foerner,  New  Brunswick  'Or,,  now  at  Pompton,  N.  J.  1904-1905 — 
Henry  K.  Post,  New  Brunswick  '06,  now  at  Freehold,  N.  J.  1906 — 
John  A.  De  Hollander,  New  Brunswick  '08,  now  at  Irondequoit,  N.  Y. 
1907 — William  A.  Worthington,  New  Brunswick  '09,  now  at  Annville, 
Ky.  1908 — E.  M.  Gehr,  a  Union  Seminary  student  Presbyterian)  now 
at  New  Hampton,  N.  Y.  1909 — Andrew  Hansen,  New  Brunswick  '13, 
now  at  Millstone,  N.  J.  1910-1911— Allen  F.  Markley,  Western  Theo. 
Sem.  '14,  now  at  Cleveland,  Ohio.  1912 — Stephen  W.  Ryder,  New 
Brunswick  '13,  now  at  Aomori,  Japan.  1913 — Frank  Blanchard,  New 
Brunswick  '16.     1914-15 — Rev.   F.  V.  W.   Lehman. 

Originally  the  church  owned  two  and  a  half  acres  of  land,  but 
an  acre  or  more  was  given  to  the  cemetery,  one  of  the  best  kept  in 
all  the  country-side.  There  is  an  endownment  of  $1,200  created  by 
the  gift  of  Moses  Isaman  of  $1,000  and  the  Myers-Oxner  fund  of 
$200  (originally  $400).  In  the  County  Clerk's  office  at  Herkimer  is 
a  record,  of  Incorporation  filed  May  23,  1877,  and  an  election  of 
trustees  recorded,  June  27,  1877.  Since  its  organization  it  is  estimated 
that  some  thirty  other  church  societies  have  gone  out  of  this  one 
church.  The  cemetery  attached  to  the  church  contains  the  graves 
of  a  great  many  revolutionary  soldiers. 


CORTLAND  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  Reformed  church  of 
Cortland  grew  out  of  a  work 
in  1906  on  the  East  Side 
which  was  originally  begun 
by  the  Congregational 
church.  There  came  a  time 
in  this  work  when  the  Mis- 
sion felt  that  it  could  support 
itself,  but  the  home  church 
insisted  on  managing  the 
work,  which  led  most  of  the 
workers  to  withdraw  and  form  an  independent  church.  A  chapel  was 
secured  and   Charles  W.   Roeder,  a   Christian   layman,   now   pastor   of 

26 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

the  Flatlands  church  of  Brooklyn,  who  had  at  first  been  in  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Congregational  Mission  Board,  assumed  the  leadership 
of  the  new  congregation.  This  movement  was  stoutly  resisted  by 
the  Congregationalists  who  claimed  the  whole  East  Side  of  Cortland 
was  their  ecclesiastical  field.  After  a  most  successful  work  for  a 
year,  under  Mr.  Roeder's  leadership,  the  church  applied  for  member- 
ship in  the  Montgomery  Classis,  being  led  to  this  move  thro  Rev. 
Harvey  Clements,  then  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Cort- 
land. After  many  months  of  discussion,  classical  visitation  of  the 
field,  and  hearing,  also,  much  from  the  Congregational  side,  the 
Classis  received  the  church  which  had  been  in  existence  for  more 
than  a  year,  thus  disproving  any  infraction  of  church  comity. 

The  church  was  organized  March  18,  1908,  and  the  following 
consistory  duly  installed,  Robert  C.  Colver,  W.  T.  Linderman,  M.  G. 
Spaulding,  and  M.  J.  Haynes,  elders,  and  deacons  Harry  D.  Cole, 
Herman  Baldwin,  Harry  E.  Todd,  and  John  W.  Lee.  The  church 
came  into  the  Classis  without  asking  any  aid  from  the  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions  and  with  a  well-equipped  chapel  already  for  hold- 
ing services,  and  lot  on  which  to  build  the  future  church.  However, 
such  were  the  conditions — local  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  other 
churches,  and  an  evident  lack  of  unity  with  the  denomination  to 
which  they  had  become  attached  (owing  to  continued  agitation  on 
the  part  of  a  few  men)  that  the  work  lacked  a  leader  upwards  of  a 
year,  tho  the  people  were  enthusiastic,  the  audiences  overflowed  the 
chapel,  a  large  Sunday  school  gathered  every  Sunday  and  the  usual 
organizations  of  men  and  women,  germane  to  the  Reformed  church, 
were  found  doing  splendid  work. 

Rev.  Garrett  D.  L.  DeGraff,  who  had  been  at  Blue  Mountain, 
N.  Y.  ever  since  his  graduation  at  New  Brunswick  in  1901,  assumed 
the  pastorate  on  December  20,  1908.  For  a  little  while  the  work  went 
forward  in  bounds,  but  Mr.  DeGraff's  health,  very  poor  for  several 
years,  soon  gave  out  and  he  died,  after  a  few  months  illness,  on  No- 
vember 23,  1910.  Again  the  church  was  left  to  struggle  on  alone  for 
another  year,  or  until  November,  1911,  when  Rev.  John  E.  Winne 
began  a  year's  supply.     He  was  a  member  of  the  Schenectady  Classis. 


~=D 


y*  i  ft 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

CRANESVILLE  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  Indian  name  of  the 
places  was  "A  d  r  i  u  c  h  a" 
("Valiant").  It  was  also 
called  "Willigas"  and  Claas 
Gravens.  The  name  of 
Cranes  Village  comes  from 
Daniel  Crane  who  settled 
here  in  1804.  The  first  settle- 
ment in  the  town  of  Amster- 
dam was  made  in  1804.  The 
first  to  settle  at  Cranes- 
ville  was  the  widow  and  four 
sons  (Simon,  Jacob,  Philip, 
Lewis)  of  Philip  Groot,  the 
latter  having  been  drowned 
in  the  Mohawk  on  his  way 
hither  from  Rotterdam  in 
1716.  Philip  Groot  was  the 
son  of  Symon  Groot  who 
came  to  New  Amsterdam  in 
1640,  and  to  Albany  in  1650, 
then  to  Schenectady  in  1663. 
In  1730  the  Groot  brothers 
built  a  grist  mill  at  what  is 
now  Cranesville  (ruins  still 
extant),  the  first  to  be  erected 
on  the  north  side  of  the  Mohawk,  from  which  flour  was  sold  to  the 
settlers  along  the  river.  In  1755  Lewis  Groot  was  takn  captive  by 
the  Indians  into  Canada  where  he  remained  four  years.  John  L. 
Groot,  a  son  by  Philip  Groot's  second  marriage,  died  in  1845,  aged 
ninety.  Philip  Groot's  son,  Peter,  was  in  the  Battle  of  Oriskany, 
and  supposed  to  have  been  killed,  but  thirty  years  later  (1807) 
he  suddenly  reappeared  after  his  long  Canadian  captivity. 
Claas  Gravens  Hoek  was  the  first  land  settled  upon  west  of  Scotia, 
and  by  Claas  Andriese  DeGraff,  who  died  before  1697.  He  also  prob- 
ably bought  Adriucha  of  the  Indians  before  transferring  it  to 
Hendrick  Kyler  who  sold  it  to  Carel  Hansen  Toll  in  1699,  for  £180. 
It  was  on  this  land,  eighty  acres,  that  Philip  Groot's  family  settled, 
his  son  Lewis  succeeding  him  on  his  death  in  1716,  part  of  the  place 
still  being  in  possession  of  descendants  of  the  Groot  family. 
Under  Amsterdam  (extinct)  we  see  how  an  early  attempt  was 
made  to  organize  a  Reformed  Dutch  Church  here.  For  religious 
service  the  people  depended  on  the  Reformed  church  at  Glenville 
(organized  in  1814),  five  miles  over  the  hill,  or  else  went  to  the 
Mannys  Corners  Presbyterian  church,  or  to  Amsterdam.  The  Cranes- 
ville Reformed  church  was  organized  June  25,  1871,  the  edifice 
being  already  built.  The  charter  members  of  the  church 
were  H.  V.  V.  Clute,  Henry  J.  Swart,  Elizabeth  Swart,  Mary 
Ann  Coombs,  George  and  Mrs.  Lydia  Brewster,  George  Coombs, 
Mrs.  Maria  Clute,  Mrs.  Charles  Fancher,  G.  W.  and  Mrs. 
Watkins.  H.      V.      V.      Clute      and      H.      J.      Swart,      elders,    -and 

George    Brewster    and    George    Coombs,    deacons    formed    the    first 


28 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

consistory.  At  first  the  church  was  in  the  Classis  of  Schenectady 
but  dismissed  to  Montgomery  in  the  Fall  of  1879.  Among  the  sub- 
scribers to  the  building  of  the  church  were,  John  Blood,  Stephen 
Sanford,  Chas.  Fancher,  John  Sanders  (Scotia),  Rev.  W.  P.  Davis, 
Henry  J.  Swart,  George  Coombs,  and  H.  V.  V.  Clute.  In  1892  the 
church  bought  land  adjoining  on  which  they  built  the  present  Hall. 
In  1884  Eleanor  Veeder  of  Schenectady,  gave  the  church  $100  and 
later  Mrs.  Magdalena  DeGraff  willed  the  church  $300.  Ida  Robb 
in  1915  gave  $200.  John  G.  and  Mrs.  DeGraff  gave  the  church 
bell.  Cranesville  has  never  had  an  installed  pastor.  The  pulpit  has 
usually  been  supplied  by  near-by  pastors,  among  whom  were  Revs. 
Kyle,  Minor,  Blekkink,  Rogers,  Dailey,  Weidner,  Wurts,  Nickerson, 
Wilson  (P.  Q.)  and  Conant  of  the  Reformed  church.  Others  have 
been  Rev.  T.  C.  Harwood,  C.  B.  Perkins,  W.  H.  Groat,  Mr.  Blaine, 
Mr.  Pershing,  and  Mr.  Bell.  Since  1913  Rev.  Enoch  Powell  of  Scotia 
has  supplied  the  pulpit.  In  recent  years  great  improvements  have 
been  made  to  the  property,  a  Board  of  Trustees  has  administered 
most  successfully  the  temporalities  of  the  church.  Rev.  Mr.  Dailey, 
Classical  Missionary,  has  given  considerable  attention  to  the  field 
since  1911.  John  G.  DeGraff  has  been  an  officer  of  the  church  for 
forty  years.  The  others  of  the  consistory  are,  George  S.  Truax, 
Francis  Robb,  and  George  W.  Phillips. 

CURRYTOWN  REFORMED  CHURCH 


In  November,  1737,  the  Crown  granted  a  Patent  of  twenty-five 
thousand  acres  of  land  to  Wm.  Corry,  George  Clark  and  others.  This 
land  was  in  the  present  towns  of  Glen,  Charleston,  and  Root(  some 
in  Schoharie  County).  Corry  sold  his  share  which  was  later  con- 
fiscated by  the  State  because  the  owners  were  Tories.  The  earliest 
known  settlers  were  Jacob  Dievendorf,  Sr.,  Rudolph  Keller,  David 
and  Fred  Lewis,  Jacob  Tanner,  John  Lipe,  and  the  Bellinger,  Mowers 
and  Myers  families. 

As  early  as  1790  a  church  was 
built  at  Westerlo,  as  Sprakers  or 
Spraker's  Basin  was  at  first 
called.  This  was  not  agreeable 
to  the  folks  at  Currytown  (called 
after  William  Corry  a  pat- 
entee) who  wanted  the  church 
built  nearer  their  hamlet.  When 
this  was  not  done  the  Curry- 
town people  continued  to  wor- 
ship as  they  had  been  doing  for 
some  time,  in  the  barn  owned 
1)}'  Jacob  Devendorf.  Once  a 
month  they  were  served  by  the 
ministers  at  "Sand  Hill,"  or 
Caughnawaga,  or  Stone  Arabia, 
domines  Wack.  and  Van  Home, 
and   Pick. 

/The  Curry's  Bush  church  or- 
ganized in  1790,  was  given  an 
acre    of    kind    October    25,    1792, 


P- 


ot     land    LArtober    .25,    17 


29 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

which  deed  is  recorded  at  Fonda  under  date  of  June  5,  1794.  Under 
date  of  January  31,  1794,  trustees  were  elected  for  the  "Associate 
Congregation  of  Currie's  Bush  and  Remsen's  Bush"  (Florida  or 
Minaville).  This  church  belonged  to  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod 
in  which  Re^.-JaSj/  Proudfit,  of  Salem,  Rev.  John  Dunlap  of  Cam- 
bridge (>a^a*©g6p-Ge.),  and  Rev.  James  Mairs  of  Galloway  (Galway) 
were  members.  It  was  probably  these  two  churches  that  were  ac- 
customed to  be  supplied  by  the  pastors  of.  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  of  Schenectady.  Rev.  Alexander^la*Hli2y  of  Schenectady  had 
both  Currie's  Bush  and  Remsen's  Bush  as  his  charges  as  early  as 
1770  and   thro   178L] 

On  July  9,  1781  "Currietown"  was  destroyed  by  a  band  of  five 
hundred  Indians  and  Tories,  the  latter  being  commanded  by  John 
Dockstader.  As  soon  as  Col.  Willett  heard  the  story  he  set  out  from 
German  Flatts  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  whom  he  scattered  at  Sharon, 
captured  the  camp  duffle  and  recovered  the  spoil  taken  in  this  raid.  The 
enemy  had  taken  nine  of  the  settlers  prisoners, — Bellinger,  Dieven- 
dorf,  Keller,  Moyer,  Stowitts,  Myers,  Suits  and  others.  When  Wil- 
lett's  forces  drew  near  these  prisoners  were  tomahawked.  Later 
they  were  buried  but  Jacob  Dievendorf,  tho  scalped  and  supposedly 
dead  had  enough  vitality  left  to  work  himself  out  of  his  trench 
grave  and  lived  for  many  years.  Currytown  was  again  invaded  on 
October  24,  1781.  This  force  was  under  Ross  and  Butler.  At  Fort 
Hunter  the  British  Regulars  joined  them,  Col.  Willett  pursued,  and 
at  Johnstown  engaged  them  in  battle  October  25,  1781  (the  last 
battle  of  the  Revolution).  For  thirty  miles  he  pursued  them  as  they 
retreated  until   he  had  driven  the  remnant  into  the  wilderness. 

The  Currytown  Reformed  church  was  formally  organized  in  1790, 
and  in  1806  three  trustees  were  appointed  a  building  committee  who 
had  the  frame  of  the  church  up  in  1808,  and  completed  the  edifice 
by  September,  1809.  The  grounds  for  the  church  and  parsonage 
were  given  by  Jacob  Devendorf,  Sr.,  and  John  Mount,  each  con- 
tributing an  acre.  At  one  time  this  church  marked  the  boundary 
line  between  the  towns  of  Charleston  and  Canajoharie.  Since  1823 
when  the  town  of  Root  (named  after.  Erastus  Root  of  Delaware 
county)  was  formed,  the  church  has  been  called  the  Root  church, 
and  later  the  Currytown  church  (from  the  Curry  patent).  On  Sep- 
tember 9,  1809,  the  church  was  dedicated  before  an  audience  of  a 
thousand,  Rev.  John  J.  Wack  preaching  the  morning  sermon  in 
German,  Rev.  Peter  Van  Buren  the  afternoon  sermon  in  English, 
and  Rev.  Abram  Van  Home  of  Caughnawaga  the  evening  sermon. 
Rev.  Van  Buren  of  Glen  (cf)  had  conducted  services  for  a  long  time 
before  this  in  private  houses. 

In  October,  1814,  Rev.  Jacob  R.  H.  Hasbrough  of  Esopus  was 
called  to  the  churches  of  Currytown  and  Glen.  Originally  this  church 
was  in  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  but  was  put  into  the  Classis  of 
Schoharie,  and  in  1831  was  brot  back  again  into  the  Montgomery 
Classis.  Mr.  Hasbrouck  finished  his  work  here  in  1829  having  served 
Currytown,  Charlestown,  Mapletown  (Middletown),  Glen,  and  Cana- 
joharie during  fifteen  years.  He  was  without  charge  for  the  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life  and  died  in  1854. 

Early  in  1830  the  Rev.  John  Gray  was  installed  and  in  a  year 
and  a  half  received  forty-one  members.  Rev.  Jacob  W.  Hangen  who 
was   the   pastor   at    Columbia    (cf)    was   installed   March    1."),    1832,   and 

30 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASS1S 

remained  until  1837.  Forty-eight  members  were  received  by  him.  A 
parsonage  was  built  in  1833  costing  $700.  Rev.  Harrison  Heer- 
mance  took  up  the  work  in  1837  and  preached  here  thro 
1840.  As  Chaplain  of  the  128th  Regt.  N.  Y.  V.  Mr.  Heermance  con- 
tracted a  weakness  that  followed  him  for  twenty  later  years.  He 
lost  a  son  in  the  war,  and  he  died  in  1883,  at  Rhinebeck. 

Rev.  Thomas  Frazer  was  pastor  for  the  next  four  years  (1840- 
1843).  He  died  in  Montreal  in  1884.  Rev.  Jasper  Middlemas  sup- 
plied the  pulpit  during  1844  and  thro  1847.  He  entered  the  Presby- 
terian church,  later  coming  into  the  Reformed,  but  returning  in  1825 
and  for  twenty-five  years,  or  until  he  came  to  Currytown,  remaining 
in  that  denomination.  He  resigned  in  1851  after  a  four  years  pas- 
torate. Rev.  William  D.  Buckelew  came  in  1851  from  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  was  ordained  by  the  Classis  of  Montgomery.  His  last 
pastorate  was  in  the  Palisades  church  (1889-1893)  in  which  field  he 
died  in  the  later  years.  Including  Buckelew's  pastorate  the  Curry- 
town church  had  been  associated  with  the  Mapletown  church  for 
twenty-five  years. 

Rev.  John  J.  Quick  succeeded  Buckelew,  coming  to  Currytown 
in  1855  and  remaining  thro  a  part  of  1862,  which  was  followed  by  a 
two  years  at  Mapletown.  He  also  supplied  Fort  Herkimer  in  1867 
and  1868,  while  living  at  Canajoharie  without  charge. 

Rev.  R.  M.  Whitbeck  supplied  thro  1863  and  1864  until  Rev.  J. 
M.  Compton  came  the  first  time  to  preach  here.  Mr.  Whitbeck  while 
preaching  at  Currytown  also  supplied  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
Buel.  After  a  four  years  pastorate  in  the  Tyre  church  he  entered 
school  work  at  Lenox,  Mass.  for  a  few  years. 

Mr.  Compton's  first  work  at  Currytown  was  from  1864  thro  1868 
while  he  was  also  preaching  at  Mapletown.  Rev.  D.  K.  Van  Doren 
followed  in  1869  and  remained  five  years,  preaching  also  at  Sprakers. 
Mr.  Van  Doren  had  a  number  of  other  pastorates  in  the  Dutch 
church,  besides  spending  a  decade  in  the  American  Bible  Society 
work.     He  died   in   1908. 

Rev.  Edward  G.  Ackerman  took  up  the  work  during  the  holidays 
of  1874,  and  continued  until  the  Spring  of  1879.  He  held  several  other 
charges  in  the  church  and  died  while  pastor  of  the  Clover  Hill,  N.  J. 
church  in  1899,  December  1st.  Mr.  Compton  again  came  to  Curry- 
town, spending  three  years  this  time,  or  until  May,  1882,  at  the  same 
time  supplying  Sprakers,  and  for  six  months  in  1882  supplying  Maple- 
town.    Mr.   Compton  spent  a  number  of  years  at   Columbia   (cf). 

Following  Compton  came  Rev.  John  Minor  in  November,  1882, 
who  supplied  at  first  Mapletown,  but  for  the  last  year  or  more 
Sprakers  in  connection  with  this  charge.  During  this  pastorate  the 
old  church,  which  had  stood  for  seventy-four  years,  was  taken  down 
and  on  May  1,  1884,  the  present  edifice  was  dedicated  free  of  debt.  It 
cost  $7,000.  Mr.  Minor  resigned  May  1,  1885.  Garret  Wyckoff,  now 
of  Red  Bank,  N.  J.,  was  here  from  February,  1886,  to  September, 
1887.  Rev.  Henry  Hudson  Sangree  began  the  work  in  February,  1888, 
and  remained  until  June,  1893,  also  preaching  at  Mapletown  (cf). 
Rev.  Peter  S.  Beekman  was  installed  on  November  9,  1893,  resigning 
August  25,  1901.  He  has  now  for  some  years  been  pastor  at  Johns- 
town. 

Rev.  Ephriam  W.  Florence  was  called  and  took  up  the  work 
here  and  at  Sprakers  on   New  Years  day,   1902.     From  here  he   went 

31 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

to  the  Philmont,  N.  Y.,  Reformed  church,  next  going  into  the  Canadian 
Presbyterian  church,  and  has  now  for  some  years  been  in  the  Episco- 
pal church,  for  a  while  in  Canada,  then  at  Trinidad,  California,  and 
now  at   Sidney,   Nova   Scotia. 

Rev.  James  B.  Campbell  was  the  next  installed  pastor,  this  oc- 
curring in  February,  1905,  in  the  Sprakers  church.  Mr.  Campbell 
resigned  in  April,  1907.  Mr.  Campbell  spent  forty  years  in  the 
ministry  ere  he  died  in  1911  while  pastor  of  the  2d  Port  Jervis  church, 
— a  man  of  great  power  in  prayer  and  success  in  winning  a  great 
multitude  of  souls  to   Christ. 

From  November,  1907,  thro  February,  1909,  a  Mr.  E.  L.  Wade, 
son  of  a  Gloversville  Lutheran  minister,  conducted  services  in  the 
church  and  at  the  Sprakers  church.  Rev.  C.  V.  W.  Bedford  was  the 
next  stated  supply,  serving  the  church  from  June  1909  until  New 
Years,  1912,  when  he  took  up  the  work  of  the  Hagaman  church.  Mr. 
Harry  A.  Eliason  occasionally  supplied  during  1912,  then  regularly 
thro  1913,  and  until  July,  1914,  when  he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry 
and  installed  as  pastor  of  the  church,  and  of  that  at  Sprakers. 


EPHRATAH  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  town  of 
Ephratah  was  form- 
ed from  the  town  of 
Palatine  on  March 
27,  1827.  The  first 
settlers  of  the  town 
came  in  1765.  Be- 
fore the  Revolution 
among  the  settlers 
were,  Fredk.  Get- 
man,  Jacob  Empie, 
Jacob  Snell  (all  liv- 
ing near  the  village) 
and  Nickolas  Rec- 
tor, Henry  Herring, 
Wm.  Smith,  Philip 
Kreitzer,  John  Cas- 
sleman,  Jacob  Fry, 
William  Cool,  Jo- 
hannes W  i  n  k  1  e, 
Zachariah  Tripp, 
Henry  Hart,  Peter 
S  c  h  u  t  t,  and  Mr. 
Dussler.  Most  of  these  men  were  Germans,  and  some  of  them  came 
from  the  Schoharie  valley.  Sir  William  Johnson  erected  the  first 
grist  mill,  near  where  Wood's  tannery  was  located.  This  was  burned 
by  the  Tories  during  the  war.  William  Cool  was  in  the  mill  at  the 
time  and  was  killed  and  scalped.  The  miller  was  taken  a  prisoner 
and  carried  away  captive.  He  had  hidden  his  money  in  the  walls  of 
the  mill,  and  on  his  return  foi 
Johannes  Winkle  settled 
Yauney  later   lived,   and   built   a   grist   mill   where  Yauney's   mill   now 


>und  it.^»^^lAC.^<<r^^^w^^^>(Svy<rv«.cL 
d    before    the    Revolution    where     Ta-mes 


32 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

is.  When  this  mill  was  burned  it  was  later  rebuilt  by  Mr.  Shulls 
(Shults).  Still  later  Henry  Yauney  bot  it  and  built  a  woolen  mill. 
In  1808  Henry  Yauney  built  a  saw  mill  where  Levi  Yauney's 
mill  now  is.  Henry  Yauney  was  a  captain  in  the  1812  war  and  later 
major  of  the  New  York  militia.  In  1803  he  bot  a  100  acres  of  land, 
embracing  the  village  site,  and  laid  it  out.  Fredk.  Empie  settled 
where  John  F.  Empie  later  lived.  In  1815  Peter  Schram  built  the 
first  inn.  In  1810  Thomas  Benedict  kept  the  store  in  Ephratah. 
Richard  Young  and  Richard  Coppernoll,  two  soldiers  of  the  Revolu- 
tion settled  down  where  later  Hiram  Lighthall  lived.  Aaron  C. 
Whitlock  of  Ephratah  was  a  brigader-general  in  the  New  York 
militia.  He  was  also  one  of  the  three  commissioners  to  locate  -i  /?  '' 
the  Court  House  and  jail  at  Fonda.  /  Aa_i^^_v^( 

Nickolas  Rector,  a  Revolutionary  captain  of  militia,  lived  near  ' 
where  Chauncey  Snell  later  lived.  He  and  his  family  were  attacked 
by  the  Indians  but  all  escaped  alive.  Mrs.  Rector  went  toward 
Stone  Arabia.  On  the  way  she  came  across  the  body  of  a  settler 
who  had  been  killed  by  the  Indians.  She  removed  his  boots  and 
wore  them  the  rest  of  the  way.  One  boot  it  was  said  was  almost 
filled  with  blood  when  she  got  to  Stone  Arabia. 

The  first  church  of  which  we  have  any  record  at  Ephratah  was 
a  Presbyterian  organization  of  1823.  On  March  17th  of  that  year 
a  number  of  persons  living  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town  of 
Palatine  met  in  District  No.  9  schoolhouse.  William  Lassels  was  the 
chairman  of  meeting  and  Christopher  Getman  was  the  clerk.  They 
decided  to  call  the  society  "The  First  Presbyterian  Church  and 
Society  of  the  Town  of  Palatine,"  and  selected  these  trustees,  Peter  G. 
Getman,  Thomas  Davies,  Joseph  Getman,  Philip  Kring,  William 
Lassells,  Jonathan  Selter,  Timothy  Riggs,  Chauncey  Hutchinson,  and 
Caleb  Johnson.     The  record  at  Fonda  is  dated  March  24,  1823. 

Rev.  Caleb  Knight  was  the  first  supply  of  this  church.  It  does 
not  appear  from  the  minutes  as  if  he  was  ever  installed.  He  began 
work  on  June  1,  1823  and  continued  till  July  1,  1826.  According  to 
the  receipts  recorded  the  salary  ranged  around  $275  a  year.  The 
last  meeting  (recorded)  of  this  Board  of  Trustees  was  the  annual 
meeting  September  25,   1826,  but  no  business  was  transacted. 

The  next  efforts  toward  an  established  church  at  Ephratah  is 
found  in  the  county  clerk's  records  at  Fonda,  where  is  recorded  the 
incorporation  of  "The  Dutch  Reformed  and  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Ephratah."  The  record  is  dated  June  1,  1829.  At  this  time  (1805- 
1828)  the  Rev.  John  Wack  was  the  supply  at  Stone  Arabia,  and, 
without  doubt,  he  looked  after  the  religious  work  at  Ephratah,  when 
there  was  no  pastor  there.  A  good  many  of  the  Ephratah  folks 
were  in  the  habit  of  attending  the  Stone  Arabia  church,  while  a  few 
also  went  occasionally  to  the  Tillaborough  church  (cf).  The  trus- 
tees of  this  1829  church  at  Ephratah  were  John  Rickard,  Philip 
Kring,  Harmanus  Shaver,  Christopher  Getman  and  John  Y.  Ed- 
wards. Notice  that  Christopher  Getman  was  the  clerk  of  the  original 
organization  in  1823,  and  Philip  Kring  (whose  name  appears  in  con- 
nection with  the  Tillaborough  church  in  the  Stone  Arabia  records) 
was  a  trustee  of  the  original  church.  Between  the  dates  of  1835  and 
1851  there  are  no  minutes  recorded  of  any  election  of  trustees  for 
this  church,  and  in  1859  it  was  formally  disbanded.     No  name  of  any 


33 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

minister  is  recorded  in  connection  with  this  "Dutch  Reformed  and 
Presbyterian    Church." 

Under  date  of  February  10,  1831,  there  is  a  record  at  Fonda  of 
the  Incorporation  of  "The  St.  John's  Reformed  Church  of  Ephratah," 
whose  trustees  were,  Aaron  C.  Whitlock,  Adam  Hart,  John  Beck, 
and  Frederick  Empie.  Nothing  further  is  known  of  this  work.  In 
1832,  according  to  the  same  records,  a  "Union  Society"  was  formed 
at  Pleasant  Valley  (Rockwood)  in  the  town  of  Ephratah.  Rev. 
William  Thomson  was  the  pastor,  and  the  trustees  elected  were, 
Joseph  Deans,  Rose  Simmons,  Dutec  Joslin,  Robert  Weaver,  Chaun- 
cey  Orton,  and  Azel  Hough.  It  was  at  Ephratah  and  Oppenheim 
that  the  first  settlements  were  made  in  what  is  now  Fulton  county. 
These  were  in  1724,  while  that  of  Johnstown  was  about  1764  when 
J.ohnson  Hall  was  built  by  Sir  William  Johnson.  It  was  just  beyond 
Ephratah  that  the  Battle  of  Johnstown  was  fought  between  seven 
hundred  Tories  and  Indians,  commanded  by  Ross  and  Butler,  and 
the  forces  under  Col.  Marinus  Willet.  In  this  engagement  Walter 
Butler   was  killed   by  an   Oneida   Indian. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Montgomery  Classis  held  on  July  2,  1832, 
a  "Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church"  was  organized  at  Ephratah, 
which  was  later  incorporated  (April  14,  1851).  At  this  time  and 
thro  the  year  1840  the  clerk  of  the  consistory  frequently  refers  to 
the  "Dutch  Reformed  and  Presbyterian  Church,"  and  calls  the  con- 
sistory meetings  "sessions,"  but  all  this  is  manifestly  wrong  be- 
cause Rev.  Isaac  S.  Ketchum  was  called  in  1833  and  Rev.  Benj.  B. 
Westfall  in  1837, — both  Reformed  Dutch  ministers,  and  at  the  time 
preaching  in  the  Dutch  church  at  Stone  Arabia. 

Altho  the  church  at  Ephratah  was  organized  in  1832  the  first 
record  of  any  members  uniting  with  the  church  is  made  in  November, 
1841,  when  Ashbel  Loomis  was  received  by  Rev.  John  Robb,  the 
stated  supply.  On  May  21,  1842,  Josiah  and  Mrs.  Elisabeth  Wil- 
liamson were  received,  and  this  is  the  last  record  until  January,  1845, 
when  twenty  were  received  on  confession.  However,  we  find  the 
names  of  fifty-two  members  in  the  register  under  date  of  1845.  In 
the  rear  of  the  old  record  book  is  a  long  list  of  the  names  of  those 
who  were  pew  renters  or  other  subscribers  to  the  church  expense, 
but  this  is  not  a  complete  list.  The  date  of  this  record  begins  in 
1834  and  runs  thro  1837. 

The  first  installed  minister  at  Ephratah  was  Rev.  Isaac  Ketchum 
(1833-1836),  who  was  also,  pastor  at  Stone  Arabia  (cf).  The  second 
pastor  was  Rev.  Benjamin  B.  Westfall  (1837-1838)  who  was  also  at 
Stone  Arabia  (cf).  The  pulpit  seems  to  have  been  supplied  for 
several  years,  the  Rev.  John  Robb's  service  extending  from  1841 
thro  1843,  following  which  another  vacancy  occurs  for  a  year,  tho 
it  is  likely  that  the  pastor  at  Stone  Arabia  looked  after  the  field. 
Rev.  Charles  Jukes  was  the  pastor  from  1841/^  thro  a  part  of  1850, 
for  whose  history  see  Stone  Arabia,  where  he  was  a  pastor  at  the 
same  time.  There  is  not  much  of  record  concerning  the  first  pas- 
torates of  the  Ephratah  church,  the  work  being  tributary  to  the 
older  and  stronger  organization  at  Stone  Arabia,  in  whose  records 
there  is  much  recorded  concerning  the  churches  at  Ephratah  and 
Tillaborough. 

Rev.  John  C.  Van  Liew  began  his  pastoral  work  in  1851  and 
remained    thro    1856    (cf   Stone    Arabia).      He    was   followed   by    Rev. 

34 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

John  P.  Westervelt  who  was  a  licentiate  of  the  "Wyckofite"  church, 
stationed  thro  1845-1855  in  the  Independent  churches  of  Mayfield 
"  .id  Johnstown  at  the  close  of  which  pastorate  he  became  a  Pres- 
byterian, and  for  two  years  (1858-1859),  he  supplied  Ephratah.  Mr. 
Westervelt  died  in  1879.  Westervelt  not  only  knew  Greek  and 
Hebrew  and  Latin,  but  could  speak  fluently  in  German,  French  and 
Dutch.  Rev.  George  Hewlings  supplied  the  pulpit  during  1861,  and 
Rev.  Miles  T.  Merwin,  a  Presbyterian  minister,  thro  186:2.  Mr. 
Hewlings  died  in  1872  and   Mr.   Merwin  in   1865. 

Rev.  William  H.  Smith  became  pastor  in  1866,  remaining  two 
years.  He  also  preached  at  Tillaborough  occasionally.  Rev.  Smith 
was  a  Union  College  '63  man,  who  had  allied  himself  at  first  with 
the  Methodist  church.  Examined  at  Ephratah  for  ordination  in  the 
Reformed  church,  the  classis  vote  stood, — For:  Two  ministers  and 
five  elders;  against:  Five  ministers — thus  evidencing  the  power  of 
the  eldership.  Leaving  the  Ephratah  church  in  1868  Smith  entered 
the   Presbyterian  ministry.     He  died  in    *8#§/fjf<? 

Rev.  James  M.  Compton  came  in  1868  and  remained  two  years, 
tho  he  continued  at  Stone  Arabia  two  years  longer.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  William  B.  Van  Benschoten,  who  also  preached  at 
Stone  Arabia  (cf)  while  acting  as  pastor  at  Ephratah  (187:2-1878). 
In  1877  eighty-seven  members  were  added  at  one  communion.  Rev. 
Peter  Quick  Wilson  was  the  next  pastor,  coming  from  a  stated 
supply  of  Blue  Mountain  where  just  prior  to  leaving  he  received 
seventy-five  persons  into  the  church,  remaining  from  1882  thro 
1885.  His  first  charge  was  at  East  Greenbush  (1861-1866),  while  his 
last  work  was  at  Cranesville.  A  good  deal  of  his  ministry  was  spent 
in  supplying  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  churches.  He  died  at 
Easton,  February  26,  1902.  Rev.  Rufus  M.  Stanbrough,  who  had  been 
at  Manheim  in  1861  and  at  Columbia  in  1876,  supplied  Ephratah 
during  1881-1884.  Next  came  Rev.  William  W.  Whitney,  who 
served  the  Ephratah  church  four  years  (1886-1889).  He  also 
preached  some  at  the  Tillaborough  church.  He  came  into  the  Classis 
from  the  Methodist  church.  He  had  other  pastorates  after  leaving 
Ephratah  and  died  at  Eminence,  Schoharie  county,  in  1903.  Rev. 
Charles  L.  Palmer  assumed  the  joint  congregation  of  Ephratah  and 
Stone  Arabia  in  1896  and  staid  with  the  congregation  thro  1899, 
going  to  Shokan  on  leaving  this  church,  and  in  1903  to  Kingston. 
Mr.  Palmer's  present  charge  is  at  Marlboro,  N.  J. 

Mr.  Palmer  was  the  last  settled  pastor  that  either  Ephratah  or 
Stone  Arabia  had  until  the  coming  of  Rev.  Royal  A.  Stanton  to  these 
churches  in  1914.  Mr.  Stanton  had  supplied  these  fields  during  the 
three  previous  summers,  when  a  student  in  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary,  and  came  to  the  fields  to  take  up  the  work  of  reviving 
and  strengthening  the  work,  which  he  has  done  in  a  most  successful 
way.  During  the  long  interval  between  the  pastorates  of  Rev.  Palmer 
and  that  of  Rev.  Stanton  the  church  at  Ephratah  was  supplied  for 
longer  or  shorter  periods  by  a  few  men,  as  Charles  S.  Lewis  who 
was  nearly  three  years  with  the  congregation.  Nothing  is  known 
of  his  ecclesiastical  connections.  Rev.  E.  J.  Meeker  was  here 
for  a  year's  supply.  Then  during  certain  summers  the 
students  from  the  seminary  supplied  the  pulpit.  In  1911  the  Classis 
having  appointed  a  Classical  Missionary,  Rev.  W.  N.  P.  Dailey,  the 
work  of  preparing  for  a  new  pastorate  was  begun.     At  first  preach- 

35 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

ing  services  were  conducted,  then  the  church  repaired,  and,  finally, 
the  way  was  opened  for  a  pastorate  over  these  two  churches.  The 
first  printed  report  of  the  Ephratah  church  is  in  the  Minutes  of 
Particular  Synod  of  Albany,  1835,  which  gives  225  families,  105  mem- 
bers, and  a  congregation  of  1,200.  Rev.  Ketchum  must  have  taken 
in  the  whole  town  of  Ephratah  and  part  of  Palatine  to  get  such  a 
congregation. 

The  first  church  was  built  in  1833.  This  was  extensively  re- 
paired in  1890-1891  at  a  cost  of  $1,000,  which  included  new  pews, 
pulpit,  and  carpet.  In  1901  the  church  was  moved  down  from  the 
top  of  "Church  Hill"  where  it  had  been  built  in  1833,  to  its  present 
site  in  the  village.  In  1913  the  church  was  again  given  a  thorough 
renovation,  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,700,  which  included  new  ceiling, 
electroilers,  heater,  windows,  pulpit  rails,  side  walls,  etc.  This  last 
work  was  undertaken  by  the  Ladies'  Aid  Society  and  Young  People, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Classical  Missionary,  Rev.  W.  N.  P.  Dailey. 
The  cost  was  almost  entirely  raised  at  the  re-dedication  in  Febru- 
ary, 1914.  Since  Mr.  Stanton's  coming  the  church  dining  room  has 
been  built  and  furnished.  The  present  consistory  is,  Daniel  Burdick, 
Daniel  Duesler,  Charles  Gray,  Elmer  Lighthall  and  Alpha  Christman, 
elders,  and  Clark  Dockstader,  Seymour  Snell,  Adam  Swartz,  John 
J.  Saltsman  and  Frank  F.  Tittle,  deacons.  The  trustees  are,  James 
H.  Yauney,  Norman  Saltsman,  and  Jacob  I.  Christman.  Levi 
Yauney  gave  to  the  church  in  1911  thro  his  will,  $500.  Daniel  Duesler 
has  been  the  chorister  since  1875  and  Mrs.  Ella  Christman 
Lighthall  the  church  organist  since  1895. 

FLORIDA  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  Reformed   Church   of  Florida  is   situated  at   Minaville   in   the 
town  of  Florida,  hence  its  name.     When  Classis  was  formed  in  1800,  it 


3(5 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 
Trhukonot     church. 


was  called  the    X-hukonot"  church,  ™pH  tn  bn  n  rorru-pti^n  fnr  thn   Tn- 

Hi-in    term,    "f'h  nr  t-g  mui  rln   "  -n  n  A    wViinh    mnqna    "itnnn    hniiro" HowCVCC, 

thg    TniiilT1    tQrrn    "<~l-iii1rn«n+"    mgnnr    "plgpp    r»f    |tig    tnmnrnnlr"      Miliaville 

in  those  early  days  was  also  called  "Yankee  Street"  and  not  far 
away  was  i'Remsen's  Bush,"  where  a  Reformed  church  had  been 
established^1»oforc'  the — Chukonert — ctrm*e44 — was  n^a'TiH  In  1769 
Lawrence  Shuler  settled  about  a  mile  east  of  the  present  site 
of  the  village.  It  was  on  a  part  of  his  farm  of  three  hundred  acres 
that  the  first  church  was  built.  The  district  in  which  the  church 
was  situated  was  called  Caughnawaga,  and  was  one  of  the  eight 
districts  of  Tryon  county,  which  in  1784  became  Montgomery  county. 
When  the  Montgomery  Classis  was  formed  in  1800,  two  churches 
in— what  is  now  Minavillc,  wore  included  -among  the  twenty-four  or.- 
gini-ntinnn)  nniiii  1j  i/^hnilrnnnt  and  Remsen's  Bush,  %hc  latter  being 
+h-e — first — •  * "  ^<^^fq^^^hr^T^hr,^a^  0f  worship  was  near  the  old 
burying  ground,  one  of  whose  stones  bears  the  burial  date  of  1786, 
and  which  building  stood  until  1849, — an  unpainted,  barn-like  struc- 
ture, with  galleries,  high  pulpit,  and  sounding  board. 

The  Remsen's  Bush  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church,  as  its 
title  reads  in  the  incorporation,  and  which  bears  date  of  February 
9,  1789,  was  very  likely  organized  soon  after  the  settlement  by 
Lawrence  Shuler  perhaps  as  early  as  1784,  the  date  usually  assigned  to 
it,  tho  we  should  give  it  an  earlier  date.  The  records  at  the  County 
Clerk's  office,  after  the  one  mentioned  above  are  as  follows,  No- 
vember 20,  1806,  the  .Florida  Reformed  Dutch  church  incorporated 
and  the  act  was  recorded  January  22,  1807.  The  present  consistory 
are,  J.  F.  Ernest,  John  McClumpha,  Charles  Patterson,  and  William 
Kelly,  elders,  and 
Van  Home,  and  Ric 

The  oldest  consistorial  record  extant  bears  date  of  June  2,  1808* 
which  states  the  action  whereby  the  Remsen's  Bush  and  the  Florida 
<£€3fote>4i»#?  churches  were  united  into  one  body.  This  body  was 
incorporated,  according  to  the  county  clerk's  record  on  June  6,  1808, 
tho  it  was  not  put  on  file  till  January  13,  1810.  The  elders  were, 
Christian  Servoss,  Isaac  Vedder,  and  Jacob  Sharpentine;  the  deacons 
were  Ruloff  Covenhoven,  Jacob  Staley,  John  Davenpack,  and  John 
Van  Derveer,  with  Winslow  Paige,  V.  D.  M.,  and  Jacob  Sharpentine, 
trustees.  The  first  church  of  the  united  congregation  was  erected  in 
1808,  with  the  usual  tall  spire  without  and  the  three  galleries  within, 
square  pews,  high  pulpit  and  sounding  board.  In  course  of  time  it 
was  considerably  changed,  but  lasted  the  congregation  for  seventy- 
two  years,  when,  in  1880  and  1881  a  new  building  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  $5,000.  In  1858  a  parsonage  was  bought  and  repaired  at  a 
cost  of  about  $2,000,  but  this  was  burned  in  1886  and  the  present 
house  then  erected  at  a  cost  of  $2,500.  The  church  has  $2,300  in  in- 
vested bonds.  In  1882  Rev.  J.  H.  Enders,  for  many  years  Synodical 
Superintendent,  erected  a  chapel  for  the  church  in  memory  of  his  wife, 
which  chapel,  together  with  the  church,  was  burned  in  1912,  and  a 
fourth  church  building  was  then  built  in  1913.  The  earliest 
known  preacher  in  this  section  was  Rev.  James  Maier,  as 
early  as  1794,  while  the  ministers  at  Schenectady  and  Al- 
bany, also,  doubtless  ministered  here.  The  first  settled  pastor  was 
Rev.  Thomas  Romeyn    (1800-1806),  who   was  born  at   Caughnawaga, 


37 


juiiii     ivj.c  v_i  uiiipua,     v^iidiica   ;i  auciaun,    diiu      vv  uiiaiii 

d     Arthur     Luke,     Elbert     Van     Derveeg?    Schuyler  ,>. 
Richard  De  Forest,  deacons.^^j^^^jj^-^^/^^^f^^— 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

the  son  of  Thomas  Romeyn,  Sr.,  pastor  there  during  1772-1794.  For 
a  score  of  years  he  was  pastor  at  Niskayuna.  Ill  health  compelled 
him  to  give  up  the  ministry  in  18:37,  tho  he  lived  until  1857.  The 
trustees  elected  were,  Nathan  Stanton,  Ruloff  Covenhoven  (Conover), 
John  DeGraff,  Samuel  Jackson,  Isaac  Vedder,  John  Van  Derveer, 
John  Shuler,  Hendrick  Van  Derveer  and  Tunis  Hubbard.  Successors 
to  Mr.  Romeyn  in  the  Florida  pulpit  were,  Winslow  Paige 
(1808-1820),  who  died  in  1838;  Peter  P.  Rouse  (1822-1828),  who  died 
in  1832;  James  Stevenson  (1829-1854),  who  died  in  1864  and  lies 
buried  at  Minaville;  John  Clancy  (1855-1860),  in  whose  pastorate  the 
parsonage  was  built  and  sheds  secured;  on  leaving  Minaville  he  gave 
up  the  active  ministry  and  removed  to  Schenectady  where  he  spent 
the  rest  of  his  life;  Josephus  Krum  (1861-1865)  ordained  by  the 
Classis,  who  went  into  the  Presbyterian  ministry,  lattp  becoming  an 
Episcopalian,  and  is  now  preaching  at  Ottawa,  Kansas;  Gilbert  Lane 
(1860-1873),  who  had  been  a  chaplain  in  the  army,  and  who  died  in 
lS&tfTRev.  Richard  A.  Pearse  came  to  the  church  in  1873  on  his  gradua- 
tion from  New  Brunswick,  and  has  already  passed  the  forty  year 
mark  of  a  single  pastorate.  (A  classmate,  C.  E.  Lasher,  has  had  the 
same  experience  at  Guilford,  N.  Y.).  The  Rev.  Sheldon  Jackson, 
the  noted  Alaskan  missionary,  was  born  and  spent  his  youth  under 
the  shadow  of  the  old  church  at  Minaville,  and  lies  buried  in  its 
beautiful  cemetery  along  with  his  wife,  and  children,  and  parents,  and 
grandparents,  and  the  parents  and  grandparents  of  his  wife,  his 
brothers  and  sisters, — a  multitude  of  kindred.  Col.  Samuel  Jackson, 
his  grandfather,  was  stationed  at  Plattsburgh  during  the  war  of  1812. 
Rev.  Dr.  Jackson  was  present  at  the  centennial  of  the  formation  of 
the   church   in    1908  and   delivered   an   historical   address. 


FONDA  REFORMED  CHURCH 


waga 

white 


lily 


The  village  was  named 
after  Douw  Fonda  who 
came  from  Schenectady 
and  settled  here  in  1751. 
The  former  name  for 
the  village  of  Fonda 
was  "Caughnawaga," 
the  meaning  of  which 
is  "stone  in  the  water" 
or  "at  the  rapids."  The 
Caughnawagas  of 
Tribes  Hill  were  a 
family  of  the  Wolf 
Tribe  of  the  Mohawks, 
to  which  tribe  Brant's 
mother  belonged.  In 
1669  the  Jesuits  built  a 
chapel  here,  called  St. 
Peter's  of  logs  on  the 
Sand  Flats  of  Caughna- 
Fonda.  Here  in  1676  the  Iroquois  maiden,  Te-ga-wi-ta,  the 
of  the  Mohawk,  the  now  canonized  saint  of  the  Romanists, 


38 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

was  baptised  by  James  de  Lamberville.  The  town  of  Caughnawaga 
originally  embraced  all  that  part  of  Montgomery  county  lying  north 
of  the  Mohawk  and  east  of  a  line  extending  from  the  "Nose"  to 
Canada.  In  1793  it  was  divided  into  Amsterdam,  Broadalbin,  Johns- 
town and  Mayfield.  As  early  as  1659  Arent  Van  Curler  held  a  con- 
ference with  the  Mohawks  at  Caughnawaga,  renewing  the  treaty  of 
1643.  Qouw-FoTida  came  into  this  section  in  1751,  and  after  him  thc- 
■nillagrp  was  mmaH  When  Fonda  had  come  to  his  eightieth  year,  on 
Alay  22,  1780,  he  was  killed  at  his  home,  and  two  of  his  sons,  John 
and  Adam,  were  taken  captives  to  Canada.  There  is  a  story  current 
that  the  renegade  Tory,  Walter  Butler,  killed  the  old  man  who  had 
been  a  great  friend  of  Sir  William  Johnson. 

The  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church  of  Caughnawaga,  its 
title  until  18f|,  when  the  term  "Dutch"  was  dropped  (Caughnawaga 
being  changed  to  Fonda  in  1872),  was  organized  in  1758  by  a  Low 
Dutch  element,  the  first  building  being  erected  of  stone  in  1763,  to 
which  was  added  a  steeple  in  1795.  In  the  destruction  of  the  village 
by  the  Johnsons  in  1780  the  church  was  about  the  only  unburned 
building  and  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  was  built  on  the  Butler 
estate  land  and  was  supposed  to  belong  to  the  Butler  family.  This 
church  was  in  what  was  called  East  Fonda  and  was  used  up  to  1842, 
when,  at  the  close  of  Rev.  Fonda's  pastorate,  the  old  church  and  par- 
sonage, the  glebe  lands,  the  old  bell,  and  all  were  sold,  the  congrega- 
tion going  into  the  village  and  erecting  a  new  church  which  was 
dedicated  in  1843.  Then  the  old  church  was  transformed  into  a  dwell- 
ing house,  parlors,  bedrooms,  and  kitchen  taking  the  place  of  pulpit, 
pews,  and  aisles.  There  was  a  small  wooden  church  erected  near  the 
Uppjjer  Mohawk  Castle,  where  the  Fort  Hunter  (Queene  Anne's 
chapel)  missionary  preached  at  times.  The  bell  of  this  church,  similar 
to  that  on  Queene  Anne's  chapel,  was  stolen  by  the  Indians  and 
carried  away  into  Canada.  At  first  the  church  was  supplied  by  the 
pastor  of  the  old  Dutch  church  at  Schenectady,  the  Rev.  Barent 
Vrooman.  From  the  year  1772,  when  the  first  settled  pastorate  be- 
gan, the  church  at  Fonda  had  had  but  twelve  pastors.  Excepting  the 
twelve  supplies,  who  served  altogether  about  eight  years,  the  pastor- 
ates have  averaged  twelve  years,  that  of  the  Rev.  Van  Home  being 
the  longest,  thirty-eight  years.  Then,  Romeyn  twenty-two  years  and 
De  Baun  seventeen  years.  The  preaching  in  Dutch  ceased  with  Van 
Home,  who  had  had  a  record  of  twenty-three  hundred  baptisms  and 
fifteen  hundred  marriages.  The  Classis  of  Montgomery  was  organized 
in  the  old  Caughnawaga  church  on  Wednesday,  September  2,  1800 
(cf  Note),  and  the  pastor  of  this  church,  Rev.  Thomas  Romeyn,  Sr., 
became  the  first  Stated  Clerk  of  Classis,  as  he  was  the  first  in- 
stalled pastor  of  the  church.  He  died  while  pastor  in  1794.  A  parch- 
ment subscription  list,  dated  July  24,  1790,  refers  to  Romeyn's  failing 
strength  and  calls  for  an  assistant  pastor.  Eighty-eight  names  are 
on  the  list  (pub.  in  Fonda  "Democrat"  of  January  21,  1915).  His  son, 
Thomas,  a  member  of  the  first  class  at  Union  College  (1797)  was  a 
pastor  at  Florida  (cf).  There  have  been  ten  members  of  the  Romeyn 
family  in  the  ministry  of  the  Reformed  church.  A  brother  of  this 
first  pastor,  Dr.  Dirck  Romeyn,  while  pastor  of  the  Dutch  church  in 
Schenectady,  founded  Union  College.  He  died  in  1794  while  pastor, 
aged  sixty-five  (cf  DeBaun's  Mem.  Address  in  "Democrat"  of  Novem- 
ber 22,   1894).     A  writer  in   the  "Christian   Intelligencer"    (August   14, 

39 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

1859),  describes  the  "old  church  as  made  of  rough  limestone,  gable- 
roofed,  two  windows  on  the  end,  and  two  more  on  the  east,  with 
the  door  between,  all  having  the  Norman  arch  above."  The  spire 
put  on  in  1795  had  disappeared  by  this  time  (1859),  leaving  but  a 
remnant  of  a  tower.  In  1868  this  old  stone  church  was  demolished, 
most  of  the  stone  being  used  in  the  wall  enclosure  of  the  Mills'  place 
at  Fonda.  Its  only  bell  was  from  the  confiscated  sale  of  Sir  John 
Johnson's  property,  held  at  Tribes  Hill,  and  was  formerly  Sir  Wil- 
liam's dinner  bell.  It  weighed  a  hundred  pounds  and  has  on  it  the 
inscription,  "Sir  William  Johnson,  Baronet,  1774,  made  by  Miller  and 
Rosa  in  Eliz.  Town."  After  the  sale  of  the  church  the  bell  began  its 
old  work  of  calling  the  hungry  to  eat  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Shull  at 
Stone  Arabia.  It  has  been  recast  and  the  owner  added  his  name  to 
the  inscription.  Over  the  door  of  the  old  church  was  a  stone  tablet 
containing  these  words,  "Komt  laett  ons  op  gaen  to  den  Bergh 
desfeern,  to  den  hmyse  des  Godes  Jacobs,  op  dat  by  ous  leere  van 
syne  wegen,  eu  dat  my  wand  ele  in  syne  paden."     Micah  4.2. 

In  1854  the  Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda  who  was  pastor  at  Caughna- 
waga  from  1844  thro  1858  conducted  the  Fonda  Academy  in  the  old 
building,  Jacob  A.  Hardenburgh,  a  Rutgers  man  was  the  principal. 
He   was   New  York   Senator   for   two   terms    (1870-1873). 

The  successor  to  Romeyn  was  Rev.  Abraham  Van  Home  (1795- 
1833).  The  consistory  elected  April  15,  1801,  was  Henry  B.  Vrooman, 
James  Lansing,  Cornelius  Smith,  and  John  Prentiss,  elders,  and  John 
Dockstader,  Barent  Martin,  John  C.  Davis,  and  John  Stauring, 
deacons.  During  the  last  two  years  of  Van  Homes  pastorate  the 
pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Isaac  S.  Ketchum  (cf  Stone  Arabia).  The 
father  of  Van  Home  was  a  commissary  in  the  American  army  and 
when  he  resigned  in  1783  the  son  was  appointed  in  his  place.  Rev. 
Van  Home  preached  in  both  Dutch  and  English.  He  died  in  1840, 
aged  seventy-five.  Rev.  Robert  A.  Quinn  was  the  third  pastor  (1833- 
1835).  He  died  at  Snug  Harbor  in  1863  while  serving  his  eleventh 
year  as  chaplain  of  the  sailors'  work  there.  Rev.  Jacob  D.  Fonda  came 
in  1835  and  remained  thro  1842.  After  several  other  pastorates  he 
died  in  1856  while  pastor  at  Schaghticoke.  Jeptha  R.  Simms,  the 
historian,  was  active  in  the  church  at  this  time,  playing  a  flute  in  the 
choir.  During  the  years  1842  and  1843  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev. 
Andrew  Yates  of  Union  College,  Schenectady  (cf  Chittenango).  Dr. 
Yates  died  in  1844  and  is  buried  at  Schenectady. 

The  new  church  building,  dedicated  in  October,  1843,  cost  $3,500. 
It  was  located  on  the  corner  of  Railroad  avenue  and  Centre  street. 
During  Rev.  Boyd's  pastorate  (1866)  this  building  was  moved  from 
that  site  to  its  present  location,  and  eleven  thousand  dollars  spent 
in  repairs  and  improvements.  On  the  dedicatory  program  were  Revs. 
I.  N.  Wyckoff  of  Albany,  Stevenson  of  Florida,  and  Robb  of  Canajo- 
harie.  In  1844  Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda  came  to  the  church  and  re- 
mained here  until  1858,  the  year  of  his  death.  Van  Olinda  spent  more 
than  twenty  years  in  the  Montgomery  Classis  (Auriesville,  Canajoharie, 
etc.).  Rev.  Philip  Furbeck  (father  of  Revs.  George  and  Howard  Fur- 
beck)  was  the  next  pastor  (1859-1862).  Mr.  Furbeck  had  an  active 
ministry  of  forty  years  in  the  Reformed  church,  another  charge  in 
this  Classis  being  at  St.  Johnsville.  He  died  in  1899.  Rev.  Wash- 
ington Frothingham,  a  retired  Presbyterian  minister  living  at  Fonda, 
supplied  the  pulpit  during  1863  and  1864.     He  died  in   1914.     He  was 

40 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

popularly  known  in  the  literary  world  as  "The  Hermit  of  New 
York,"  an  eccentric  man  of  fine  character  and  noble  attain- 
ments. Rev.  John  C.  Boyd  came  in  1865  and  remained  thro  1870 
when  he  entered  the  Presbyterian  church.  He  spent  his  last  years, 
however,  at  Fonda,  supplying  for  a  number  of  years  the  church  at 
Auriesville  (cf).  He  died  in  1901.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1857  and  practiced  law  a  few  years.  The  pastorate  of  Rev.  Thomas  W. 
Jones  was  from  1870  thro  a  part  of  1882.  A  great  revival  marked 
this  ministry  at  Fonda.  During  this  pastorate  also  a  parsonage  was 
secured  and  $10,000  spent  on  organ,  repairs,  etc.  On  February  10, 
1863,  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  church  was  incorporated,  patterned 
after  the  incorporation  of  the  Madison  Avenue  Reformed  church  of 
Albany.  After  two  short  pastorates  in  the  west  and  a  long  one  at 
Bedminster,  N.  J.,  Mr.  Jones  died  at  Brooklyn  in  1909.  He  supplied 
his  old  pulpit  during  1900  and  1901.  Rev.  John  A.  DeBaun  was  with 
the  church  from  1883  thro  a  part  of  1900  and  died  on  the  field.  He 
was  tendered  a  professorship  at  Hope  College  while  pastor  here,  but 
declined  the  same  in  favor  of  the  church.  Rev.  J.  C.  Boyd  filled  the 
pulpit  for  a  while  after  Dr.  De  Baun's  death.  Rev.  J.  Collings  Caton 
spent  three  years  on  the  field  (1902-1904)  going  next  to  the  12th  St. 
Church  of  Brooklyn  and  in  1915  becoming  pastor  of  the  First  Pater- 
son  (N.  J.)  Church.  Rev.  Wm.  J.  Lonsdale  followed  Rev.  Caton 
and  remained  until  1910.  He  is  now  pastor  of  the  Second  Paterson 
(N.  J.)  Church.  Pev.  Henry  C.  Cussler,  the  present  pastor,  was 
formerly  of  Buffalo. 

FORT  PLAIN  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  village  of  Fort  Plain 
goes  back  beyond  Revolution- 
ry  times,  the  place  undoubt- 
edly taking  its  name  from 
Fort  Plain  which  was  built  in 
1776  about  a  third  of  a  mile 
north-east  of  the  "Sand  Hill" 
church,  which  church  was 
built  about  a  mile  above  the 
present  site  of  the  village. 
Some  have  thot  it  derived  its 
name  from  Fort  Plank,  built 
toward  the  close  of  the  war 
and  which  was  two  and  a  half 
miles  west  of  Fort  Plain  and 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the 
river.  The  story  of  the  "Sand 
Hill"  church  ought  to  be  read 
in  connection  with  this  of 
Fort  Plain,  because  of  the 
close  relationship  of  the  two, 
Fort  Plain  being  an  outgrowth  of  the  old  church  on  the  hill.  The 
present  church  at  Fort  Plain  was  organized  in  1831.  The  church  at 
"Sand  Hill"  had  about  outlived  its  usefulness,  but  under  the  influence 
of  Rev.  Wack  (cf  "Sand  Hill")  who  had  been  dropped  by  Classis, 
it   was   endeavoring   to   defeat   the   aim  of  the   younger   congregation, 


41 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

whose  work  was  more  opportune  to  the  changed  conditions  of  the 
community.  Already  the  present  village  folk  of  Canajoharie  had 
withdrawn  from  the  hill  church  and  the  families  at  Fort  Plain  felt 
the  distance  too  great  to  continue  to  go  there.  Accordingly  a  com- 
mittee of  Classis,  Revs.  Welles  and  Gray,  visited  the  field,  looked 
carefully  into  the  situation  and  reported  back  to  Classis  on  February 
7,  1832,  about  as  follows, — "that  the  'Sand  Hill'  church  was  domin- 
ated by  Rev.  John  J.  Wack,  no  consistory  had  been  elected  for  a 
decade,  the  property  was  fast  falling  into  ruin,  the  members  were 
scattered,  and  the  church  defunct.  On  the  other  hand  Montgomery 
Classis  and  the  Domestic  Board  had  organized  this  new  (Fort  Plain) 
church  and  it  was  deserving  of  the  hearty  support  of  all  in  that  com- 
munity, and  amply  sufficient  to  supply  their  needs."  The  men  be- 
hind the  movement  for  this  new  church  were  Revs.  Douw  Van  Olinda 
(cf  Fonda)  and  Cornelius  Van  Cleef  (classmate  of  Rev.  Bethune  at 
Utica).  These  men  at  the  time  were  looking  after  the  work  of  the 
Classis  at  Johnstown,  Mayfield,  Canajoharie,  Palatine,  Mapletown, 
Sprakers,  Fort  Plain,  etc.  In  June,  1833,  both  the  Reformed  and 
Universalists  began  to  build  their  edifices.  'Henry  and  Abram  I.  Fail- 
ing were  the  Reformed  church  builders.  There  was  a  great  rivalry 
to  see  which  would  first  raise  the  frame.  The  Reformed  church 
builders  won  out  while  the  carelessness  of  the  others  caused  an 
accident  which  injured  several  men,  one  of  whom  died. 

Rev.  Nanning  Bogardus  was  the  first  installed  pastor  of  whom 
we  have  any  definite  record.  He  was  to  have  been  installed  on 
December  26,  1833,  and  Rev.  Bethune  was  to  preach  the  sermon,  but 
on  the  night  of  December  25,  the  church  decorated  for  the  occasion, 
was  burned  and  Bogardus  was  not  installed  until  April  15,  1834. 
Rev.  Demarest  (pastor  1884-1890)  thinks  Rev.  John  H.  Pitcher  was 
the  first  pastor  because  he  was  ordained  at  Fort  Plain.  Corwin's 
Manual  places  Pitcher  at  Herkimer  and  German  Flatts  during  1831- 
1833,  but  this  is  an  error  since  Domine  Spinner  was  then  pastor  and 
for  ten  years  longer.  The  Minutes  of  the  Albany  Part.  Synod  speak 
of  him  as  a  missionary  at  Fort  Plain  in  1831.  We  know,  also,  that 
Pitcher  at  this  time  was  in  the  Second  church  of  Herkimer,  merged 
into  the  First  church  in  1836.  The  new  church  to  take  the  place  of 
the  one  burned  was  built  in  1834.  Mr.  Bogardus  remained  with  the 
enterprise  but  a  little  over  four  months.  Later  he  spent  ten  years 
in  the  Classis  as  pastor  of  the  churches  at  Canastota  and  Sprakers 
(cf).     He  died  in  1868. 

During  1835-1836  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Arthur  Burtis, 
a  member  of  the  Oxford  Presbytery,  who  went  to  the  Little  Falls 
Presbyterian  church  on  leaving  Fort  Plain,  and,  later,  became  Pro- 
fessor of  Greek  in  Miami  University.  He  was  ordained  to  the 
ministry  by  the  Classis  of  Montgomery  (1835).  He  died  in  1867. 
The  church  was  incorporated  at  this  time,  February  2,  1836,  the 
names  of  David  Diefendorf  and  James  Post  (elders)  and  Abraham 
I.  Failing  (deacons)  appearing  on  the  record;  also  that  of  Rev.  A. 
Burtis.  Rev.  John  P.  Pepper  succeeded  Burtis,  remaining  four 
years  (1837-1840),  and  had  another  pastorate  in  the  Classis  at  Warren 
(Herkimer  county).  He  died  in  1883,  being  without  charge  for  thirty 
years.  Rev.  Samuel  Van  Vechten  was  the  next  pastor  (1841-1844) 
and   tho   he   broke   down   physically   here   he   lived   forty   years   more. 


42 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

He    also    served    in    the    Classis    at    Mapletown,    Johnstown,    and    al 
Union.     He  died  in   1882. 

Rev.  Charles  G.  McLean  (1844-1852)  came  to  the  church  from 
the  Newcastle  Presbytery  (Pa.)  and  entered  educational  work  on 
leaving  this  field.  The  church  greatly  depreciated  during  his  pas- 
torate owing  to  internal  trouble.  For  three  years  McLean  was  on 
trial  before  the  Classis  and  Synods.  Rev.  Martin  L.  Schenck  (1853-  a-'"'*-/^ 
1857)  succeeded  McLean  and  proved  to  be  a  great  conciliator  who"'^^1^*^ 
harmonized  the  various  elements  in  the  church.  He  had  three  pastor-  '  7~  ,e7 
ates  after  leaving  Fort  Plain  (Rocky  Hill,  White  Hall,  Plattekill). 
He  died  in  1873.  Rev.  John  G.  Hall  was  the  next  pastor,  coming  in 
June,  1858  (1858-1864),  and  remained  seven  years,  a  fine  character, 
a  most  helpful  preacher  and  pastor.  But  this  prosperous  pastorate 
was  followed  by  a  seven  years  famine,  a  divided  house, — only  the 
name  of  a  church, — and  Classis  seemingly  unable  to  bring  the  prayed 
for  peace  to  its  Jerusalem.  In  the  interim  of  the  pastorate  the  pulpit 
was  frequently  supplied  by  Rev.  G.  D.  Consaul  (cf  Herkimer)  and 
Rev.  Whittaker,  a  Presbyterian  minister.  Finally,  by  invitation  of 
the  Classis,  Rev.  Vermilye  of  the  Utica  church,  and  Revs.  Clark  and 
Elmendorf  of  the  Albany  churches  mediated  the  matter  with  the 
congregation  and  again  peace  and  prosperity  ensued.  Rev.  Alexander 
B.  Riggs  was  called  and  came  to  this,  his  first  pastorate  (1870-1876), 
and  brot  the  church  back  to  its  former  glory  and  efficiency.  He  was 
ordained  by  Montgomery  Classis. 

During  this  pastorate  the  building  was  remodeled  at  a  cost  of 
$13,000.  A  great  revival  conducted  by  Riggs  swept  over  the  com- 
munity and  not  only  increased  the  membership  of  the  church  but 
gave  spiritual  tone  to  the  whole  work.  Mr.  Riggs  next  went  to 
the  West  Troy  (Watervliet)  Presbyterian  church.  For  many  years 
he  has  been  Professor  Emeritus  at  the  Lane  Theological  Seminary. 
A  Board  of  seven  Trustees  was  incorporated  on  February  24,  1S67. 
to  manage  with  the  consistory  the  temporalities  of  the  church.  There 
is  also  a  record  at  Fonda  of  a  meeting  of  these  trustees,  August  19, 
1869,  at  which  D.  S.  Kellog  presided  and  G.  J.  Pettit  was  the  clerk. 
During  the  years  when  the  church  was  without  a  settled  pastor  the 
pulpit  was  supplied  for  at  least  four  years  by  Rev.  Ganesvoort  D. 
W.  Consaul  (1864-1868),  a  licentiate  of  the  Schenectady  Classis. 
Seven  years  later  he  was  received  into  the  Classis,  ordained  and  in- 
stalled over  the  church  at  Mohawk  (cf  Herkimer).  In  1879  he  de- 
mitted  the  ministry.  Rev.  Mr.  Whittaker  also  supplied  the  pulpit  for 
about   two   years    (1866-1868). 

The  successor  to  Dr.  Riggs  was  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Rogers  (1876- 
1879)  who  had  been  a  pastor  at  Geneva  (cf)  for  eight  years,  and 
came  to  Fort  Plain  from  Port  Jervis.  On  leaving  the  fjeld  he  entered 
the  Congregational  body,  serving  it  in  Michigan,  Illinois,  and  Iowa. 
He  died  May  3,  1910,  having  been  for  a  decade  the  Secretary  of  the 
Minnesota  Congregational  Association.  Rev.  Denis  Wortman  came 
to  the  church  from  the  old  First  church  of  Schenectady,  in  1S80, 
and  resigned  in  1883  to  take  up  work  at  Saugerties.  For  a  great 
many  years  he  has  most  efficiently  served  the  denomination  as  Secre- 
tary of  their  Ministerial  Board  of  Relief.  Rev.  James  Demarest  be- 
came pastor  in  1884,  remaining  seven  years.  His  last  work  was  in 
the  Bethany  church  of  Brooklyn.  He  died  in  1913.  Rev.  Edward  A. 
McCullum    was    the    next    to    occupy    the    pulpit     (1890-1900).       Air. 

43 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

McCullum  has  recently  resigned  his  pastorate  at  Fishkill-on-Hudson 
to  take  up  the  work  at  Castleton.  Rev.  Arthur  Dougall  was  called 
to  the  pastorate  in  1900  and  remained  about  three  years.  He  next 
entered  the  Elmira  Presbyterian  church  and  died  while  pastor  there 
in  1909.  The  present  pastor  at  Fort  Plain  is  Rev.  Henry  C.  Willough- 
by  who  came  on  the  field  in  1904. 

FORT  HERKIMER  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  corporate  title 
of  this  church  is 
"The  Reformed  Pro- 
testant Dutch  church 
of  German  Flatts." 
The  beginning  of  its 
history  goes  back  to 
the  settlement  of  the 
country  in  the  years 
1722  and  1723  when 
the  Palatines  came 
into  the  valley  of 
the  Mohawk  from 
Schoharie.  Of  these 
Palatines  and  their 
migration  to  Ameri- 
ca and  to  this  valley 
we  have  spoken  in 
detail  in  the  Notes. 
The  Burnettsfield 
Patent  of  9,186  acres, 
dated  April  30,  1725,  was  given  to  ninety-two  persons,  one-fourth  of 
whom  were  women.  Their  names  can  be  found  in  Simms'  "Frontier- 
men."  The  history  of  this  church  is  linked  with  the  work  at  Herkimer 
since  from  the  start  the  people  of  the  latter  place  depended  upon  the 
German  Flatts  preacher  for  services,  and  for  half  a  century  or  up 
to  1841  there  was  an  established  dual  pastorate  in  the  two  fields. 
The  initial  church  building  at  German  Flatts  was  a  lo^g  structure 
in  the  woods,  erected,  doubtless,  as  the  Palatines  were  wont  to  do, 
as  one  of  the  very  first  buildings,  as  early  as  1723.  This  was  their 
House  of  God  .for  ftKasryears,  s&sce  in  1734  we  find  one  Nicholas 
Feller,  in  a  t*^«  onC^fe-  owned  by  the  Oneida  Historical  Society 
(Utica),  granting  his  pew  in  the  German  Flatts  church  to  his  son-in- 
law,  Han  Nicholas  Chrisman.  The  deeds  for  the  land  on  which  the  church 
stands  are  two  in  number,  one  dated  September  24,  1730  (4*©w-  owned 
by— -Mrsr-Afl-drew  -Paeon  of-Mohawk-T-Nr-yQ  and  another  dated  April 
26,  17*33.  Undoubtedly  with  the  granting  of  the  first  land  the  German 
Flatts  church,  the  one  now  standing,  was  begun.  About  1860  the 
holders  of  the  Glebe  lands  refused  to  pay  rent.  Court  of  Chancery, 
Utica,  decided  against  them.  Over  the  original  entrance  on  the  river, 
or  north  side  of  the  edifice  one  sees  cut  into  the  stone  "J.  H.  Esq. 
1767," — referring  to  Johanns  Herkimer,  Esquire,  the  father  of  the 
conqueror  on  the  Battle  Field  of  Oriskany,  Nicholas  Herkimer.  -But 
the  will  quoted  above,  and  deeds  of  land  for  church  building,  and  old 


44 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

subscription  lists  still  extant,  and  the  old  books  of  the  treasurer,  and 
appeals  to  Governor  Clinton  for  permission  to  raise  funds  for  com- 
pleting the  church  (-l'rao,  J.71G,  1£51,  ct  n-k)  are  abundant  evidence  that 
the  date,  1767,  does  not  refer  to  the  beginning  of  the  building  of  the 
church,  but  rather  its  completion.  History  also  records  how  the 
settlers  long  before  this  date  used  the  stone  church  as  a  means  of 
refuge  in  times  of  Indian  depredation.  Johann  Jost  Herkimer  built 
a  stone  house  for  himself  in  17j|,  later  called  "Konin"  ("bear")  *B*d 
General  ITfrWitncr^.hnilr  a_brick— koas^,  evidencing  the  reasonableness 
of  believing  the  stone  church  was  begun  soon  after  the  settlement. 
Among  the  names  of  those  who  are  found  on  the  lists  and  in  the 
books  as  subscribing  toward  the  building  of  the  church  are  eight 
each  of  Becker,  Veeder  and  Vrooman.  Others  of  note  are,  Yoost 
Werner,  Heinrich  Riemenschneider,  Ludwig  Rickert,  Joseph  R.  Yates, 
Annaatzie  Ziele,  Birch  Hagedoorn,  Storm  Becker,  Johannes  Schuyler 
(Rev.),  Barent  Kysley  Meinert  Wemp  (Wemple),  Reyer  Baxter, 
Sanders  Glen,  Plantina  Vrooman,  Wilhelm  Braun,  Peter  Man,  God- 
fried  Knieskern,  Jacob  Borst,  Johannes  Snal,  Phillip  Rily,  Arent 
Bratt   (some  of  these  of  Schenectady  and  Schoharie). 

The  German  Flatts  church  is  one  of  the  very  few  oldest  churches 
in  the  country.  Originally  it  was  forty-eight  by  fifty-eight  and 
seventeen  feet  high,  but  in  1812  it  was  made  eight  feet  higher,  a 
gallery  put  in  on  three  sides,  the  entrance  changed  from  the  north 
to  the  west  side,  and  the  high  pulpit,  with  sounding  board,  placed* 
in  the  east  or  opposite  end.  These  repairs  cost  $4,359,  and  William  ^zJb^-  ff 
Clapsaddle  was  the  chairman  of  the  building  committee.  On  June 
1,  1813,  the  German  Flatts  consistory  met  in  the  "new  church"  of 
Herkimer,  and  decided  to  hold  services  in  the  barn  of  Squire  Fox 
till  the  church  repairs  were  completed.  At  this  time  the  inventory  of 
the  church  (recorded  at  Herkimer,  Bk.  67,  P  115)  included  thirteen 
hundred  and  seventy-seven  acres  of  land,  the  rent  of  which  was  $235. 
Also  one  acre  in  the  church  site  and  cemetery. 

The  Herkimer  family,  numerous  and  influential,  perhaps  second 
to  the  Johnson  family  in  importance  in  the  valley,  all  belonged  to 
this  church,  and  lie  buried  either  in  its  acre  or  under  the  shadow  of 
the  old  church.  General  Nicholas  Herkimer  (dec.  August,  1777)  and 
his  four  brothers  and  eight  sisters,  one  of  whom  married  Rev.  Abra- 
ham Rosencrantz,  pastor  (1752-1796)  were,  with  their  numerous  de- 
cendants,  allied  with  the  old  church.  George  Rosencrantz,  son  of 
the  domine,  was  active  in  the  church  from  17fl4  to  1838.  The  parents 
of  the  General  are  buried  at  the  rear  of  the  old  stone  church — 
close  to  the  original  entrance  of  the  church.  The  name  is  various- 
ly spelled,  as  here,  also  Herchkeimer,  Erghemar,  Harkamar.  The 
true   German  was   Ergemon. 

Two  of  the  pastors  of  the  church,  the  Rosencrantz  brothers,  were 
buried  under  the  pulpit  (when  in  the  south  end).  Indeed  part  of  the 
sub-cellar  was  used  as  a  burial  ground,  and  has  some  graves,  each 
marked  with  a  rude  unlettered  stone.  This  custom  may  have  been 
the  result  of  the  scalp  hunting  Indians  who  were  looking  for  the 
bounty  offered  by  the  English  and  who  regarded  this  settlement  as 
privileged  ground  for  their  trade.  When  extensive  repairs  were  made 
to  the  building  in  1887  two  long  fluted  pillars  of  cedar,  originally 
painted  white,  were  found  beneath  the  floor,  and  parts  of  the  first 
pulpit  that  stood  in  the  south  end  of  the  church.     Along  with  these 

45 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

repairs  a  new  bell  was  put  in,  a  lower  platform  erected  under  the 
high  pulpit,  and  an  arch  built  up  over  the  gallery,  concealing  it.  It 
is  hoped  that  some  day  these  innovations  will  be  removed  and  this 
grand  old  edifice  put  back  to  its  pristine  conditions, — a  standing 
monument  of  the  valor  and  vigor  of  the  German  settlers  of  the  Mo- 
hawk valley. 

Fifty  rods  west  of  the  church  was  built  Fort  Herkimer.  Original- 
ly this  was  a  stone  dwelling  house,  built  (178»)  by  the  father  of  the 
General  and  where  Nicholas  the  eldest  son  spent  his  boyhood.  The 
father,  Johann  Jost  Herkimer,  deeded  several  hundred  acres  of  land 
to  the  young  man  on  his  first  marriage  to  Miss  Petrie  and  he  went  from 
this  old  homevto  the  town  of  Danube,  three  miles  east,  and  built  the 
brick  hou&e(  to  which  he  was  brought  after  the  Battle  of  Oriskany  and 
where  he  died,  surrounded  by  his  family,  to  whom  he  read  the  thirty- 
seventh  Psalm.  The  first  home  built  by  Johan  Jost  Herkimer  was 
about  half  a  mile  east  of  the  church,  and  in  this  home  General 
Herkimer  was  born.  Neither  this  building  nor  the  old  Fort  are 
standing,  the  stones  of  the  latter  having  been  used  to  enlarge  the 
locks  of  the  Erie  canal  near-by  when  its  capacity  was  doubled  about 
1840.  Bronze  tablets,  erected  by  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution  mark  many  of  the  spots  of  historic  interest  hereabouts. 
The  fort  was  called  by  the  French,  Fort  Kouari.  In  the  Summer  of 
1783  Washington  visited  the  place  and  the  fort  was  provisioned  for 
five  hundred  men  for  ten  months,  and  Col.  Marinus  Willett  put  in 
command. 

On  September  6,  1756  Governor  Hardy  of  New  York  ordered 
Sir  William  Johnson  to  send  two  hundred  and  fifty  more  soldiers 
(making  five  hundred  in  all)  to  German  Flatts,  and  to  go  himself, 
if  need  be,  to  protect  the  settlement.     Thrice  was  the  village  assailed 

'.G^-cIa.  by  the  Indians,^!/ 1757  when  it  was  burned  with  the  gathered  crops, 
forty  of  the  people  killed,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  taken  prisoners, 
and  sixty  houses  burned  (Canadian  records).  In  September,  1756, 
a    breast    work   was    built    about    the  Jc^tlrch..      On    April    30,    1758,    a 

cfCxJ-O-  —Jtcon'id-  raid  occurred,  when  the  Indians,  with  the  help  of  the  French 

killed   thirty.      & settlement    acemo   to-  have    been    alao    on    the    north. 

-twtr^nf  rhr  riwrr  ninrn  it  is  tnlrl  ns  that  in  17^g  th"  Vi'ilrilnfl  ni  <"1lp 
coming  of  the — savages,— Lh£ — settlers — wou44  not  believe  the — friendly 
f-ftd-nrosr  When  at  last  these  came  the  minister  (Rosencrantz)  and 
some  others  sought  safety  in  the  old  stone  church.  In  1782  Brant 
with  a  hundred  and  fifty-two  Indians  and  three  hundred  Tories  again 
laid  waste  the  settlement.  August  Hess  lost  his  life.  A  hundred  and 
twenty  houses  and  barns  were  burned  and  six  hundred  head  of  cattle 
stolen. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  John  Brown  (cf  Note  on  Battle  of  Stone 
Arabia)  was  stationed  here  for  thirteen  months  beginning  April  1, 
1776.  Four  years  later  he  was  killed  at  the  Battle  of  Stone  Arabia, 
October  19,  1780.  Here  also  General  Benedict  Arnold,  the  only 
officer  in  Schuyler's  command  who  would  dare  the  journey,  tarried 
for  a  few  days  on  his  way  to  the  relief  of  Fort  SrarTwff^near  the 
Oriskany  Battle  Field  (Rome)  and  where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were 
for  the  first  time  in  this  country^  flung  to  the  breeze.  Arnold  had 
twelve  hundred  men  here,  a»d  jf om  German  Flatts  he  started  out 
the  half-witted  youth  to  strike,  terror  into  the  hearts  of  St.  Leger's 
Indians,  still  investing  Fort  StS&ja*^"  and  which  caused  them  to  beat 


^°^1  J^W  A*^- 

ft  >4Tr  S-A^-h  46 


'7 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

a  precipitate  retreat  with  loss  of  nearly  all  their  camp  equipment. 
It  was  to  German  Flatts,  also,  that  the  renegade  Tory,  Walter 
Butler,  came,  after  the  Oriskany  battle,  with  fourteen  Tories  and  as 
many  Indians,  seeking  to  influence  the  settlers  against  Independence. 
He  was  apprehended,  convicted  as  a  spy,  and  sentenced  to  death. 
Thro  the  influence  of  his  family  connection  he  was  imprisoned  at 
Albany,  from  which  confine  he  soon  escaped,  to  wreak  his  diabolical 
vengeance  on  the  men,  women  and  children  of  the  Mohawk  valley. 
Two  great  councils  of  the  Indians  were  held  at  German  Flatts,  one 
by  Tarbot  Francis  et  al  on  June  28,  1775,  when  the  Oneidas  and 
Tuscaroras  agreed  to  remain  neutral;  and  another  council  on  August 
16,  1775,  from  which  a  large  delegation  of  the  Indians  was  sent  to  a 
still  larger  council  at  Albany.  On  June  28,  1785  at  a  treaty  conducted 
here  the  Oneidas  and  Tuscaroras  (always  friendly  to  the  colonists), 
sold  to  the  State  all  the  land  between  the  Unadilla  and  the  Chenango 
rivers. 

It  was  from  German  Flatts  that  Col.  Charles  Clinton  (father  of 
Governor  George  Clinton  and  grandfather  of  DeWitt  Clinton) 
marched  in  the  summer  of  1758  to  the  capture  of  Fort  Frontenac 
from  the  French.  One  of  the  first  Liberty  Poles  erected  in  the 
country  was  at  German  Flatts.  Sheriff  White  of  Tryon  county  brot 
a  large  body  of  militia  from  Johnson  and  cut  it  down.  In  1772, 
Gov.  Tryon  was  here  on  an  inspection  of  the  troops. 

German  Flatts  was  formed  as  a  district  of  Tryon  county  on 
March  24,  1772.  In  some  of  the  older  histories,  and  on  some  of  the 
older  church  records,  the  place  is  called  "Burnettsfield,"  because  one 
of  the  English  governors  of  that  name  owned  most  of  the  land 
originally.  When  the  settlement  was  made  at  German  Flatts  the 
place  was  in  Albany  county,  then  in  1772  in  Tryon  county, 
then  in  1784  taken  from  Montgomery  county  and  made  a  part  of 
Herkimer  county.  The  village  now  has  a  population  of  a  little  more 
than  a  hundred,  and  is  easily  reached  from  Herkimer,  from  which  it 
is   distant   about   two  miles,   east. 

The  first  known  TOimctm-  at  German  Flatts  was  the  Rev.  Johannes 
Schuyler,  who  was  pastor  at  Stone  Arabia  and  Schoharie.  Among 
the  names  of  the  first  subscribers  to  the  building  fund  of  the  church 
we-find  the  name  of  this  minister.  He  had  married  in  1743  Annatje 
Veeder  of  Schenectady  and  was  forty  years  in  the  Schoharie  church 
(cf  Stone  Arabia).  Mr.  Schuyler  supplied  German  Flatts  until  the 
coming  of  Rev.  George  Michael  Weiss  who  was  the  first  permanent 
pastor  in  the  field.  Rev.  Weiss  came  to  this  field  in  1736  from 
Coxsackie  and  remained  here  ten  years.  This  is  the  first  mention 
we  have  ever  noticed  of  either  of  these  two  men  in  connection  with 
this  church.  In  a  letter  sent  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  (Holland), 
April  24,  1738,  Rev.  Weiss  signs  himself,  "Reformed  pastor  at  Bur- 
netsfield  (German  Flatts)  in  the  county  of  Albany."  Another  letter 
of  Weiss  bears  date  of  December  16,  1744  (cf  Stone  Arabia  also  in 
re  to  Weiss).  The  name  of  "Burnettsfield"  was  a  temporary  designa- 
tion, resulting  from  the  original  ownership  of  the  land,  Governor 
William   Burnett. 

Between  Weiss'  pastorate  and  the  coming  of  Rev.  Abraham 
Rosencrantz  in  1752  was  the  brother  of  the  latter  (given  name  un- 
known). Abraham  Rosencrantz^  j«fc»3  to  hie  predecessor's  being 
his  brother,  while  Rev.  John  A.  Wernig  who  supplied  Stone  Arabia 

47 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

(1751-1753),  attributes  his  coming  to  America  to  the  influence  of  this 
brother,  and  further  states  that  this  brother  had  just  died  (1752), 
and  that  Abraham  Rosencrantz  -had  taken  up  his  work,  which  also 
included  a  sort  of  itinerant  missionary  work  among  the  German 
families  scattered  along  the  Mohawk  between  Schoharie  and  Utica. 
Excepting  a  two  year  pastorate  in  the  German  Reformed  church  of 
New  York  (1758-1759)  Rosencrantz  was  at  German  Flatts  (includ- 
ing his  itinerant  preaching  at  Canajoharie,  Stone  Arabia,  etc.)  from 
1752  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1796,  a  period  of  forty-four  years. 
Rosencrantz  was  a  graduate  of  a  German  University  and  during  his 
time  here  was  justly  regarded  as  the  foremost  and  most  learned 
divine  west  of  Schenectady.  The  Stone  Arabia  records  show  that  he 
served  that  church  at  least  twelve  years,  and  we  are  inclined  to  think 
many  more.  From  1760  to  1766  he  preached  at  Middleburgh  and 
Schoharie.  From  1765  to  1796  his  permanent  residence  was  at 
German  Flatts.  His  wife  was  Anna  M.  Herkimer,  a  sister  of  the 
General,  to  whose  influence  it  is  said  that  he  owed  his  life,  since  he 
was  suspected  of  having  Tory  feelings.  Rev.  Rosencrantz  had  four 
sons  and  some  daughters.  The  names  of  his  sons  were  Henricus  J., 
Georgius,  and  John  Jost  Hergheimer,  and  Nicholas.  Nicholas'  son 
Henry  had  a  son,  Nicholas,  whose  daughter,  Mrs.  Josephine  Rosen- 
crantz is  living  (1915)  at  Ogdensburg,  N.  Y.,  aged  eighty.  During 
the  last  year  or  two  of  the  Rosencrantz  pastorate,  and  tmtil  the 
coming  of  Rev.  Pick,  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  the  Rewriflrh, 
Rom£edi  s$  Qst&id%.'QRev.  D.  C.A.  Pick  was  the  pastor  of  German 
Flatts  for  four  years  rt^Ow' i C&H-.  Before  he  became  pastor,  Pick 
visited  the  church  and  ordained  the  consistory  (1796)  for  which  he 
received  four  pounds  and  sixteen  shilling,  plus  six  shilling  for  re- 
cording the  same.  Rev.  Caleb  Alexander,  who  visited  the  valley  in 
1801  (November),  refers  to  the  stone  chapel  and  its  Dutch  clergyman, 
who  preached  every  other  Sunday  (cf  Stone  Arabia  for  Pick).  At 
this  time  Philip  Peter  Cowder  was  the  schoolmaster  and  also  chorister 
at  the  church.  From  1798  thro  1803  the  name  of  the  church  is 
omitted  from  the  General  Synod  Minutes. 

In  the  year  1802  the  Rev.  John  P.  Spinner  assumed  the  pastorate 
of  German  Flatts  and  continued  thho  forty-six  years.  Excepting 
for  the  brief  stay  of  Pick  this  church  had  had  but  two  pastors  in  a 
century.  Spinner  was  born  at  Werbach,  Germany,  January  18,  1768, 
and  at  twenty-one  became  a  priest  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
which  office  he  held  for  eleven  years.  He  left  the  Papal  church  in 
1800  and  in  the  following  year  came  to  America.  Thro  the  influence 
of  John  Jacob  Astor  he  came  to  German  Flatts  where  for  nearly  a 
half  century  he  proved  to  be  the  most  commanding  figure  in  the 
community.  During  Spinner's  earlier  years  the  membership  of  the 
church  was  around  four  hundred  (in  1813  he  reported  three  hundred 
and  sixteen),  his  congregation  numbered  a  thousand,  but  with  changed 
conditions  at  Herkimer  and  other  contiguous  places  the  audiences 
fell  off  until  in  the  early  forties  he  reports  but  a  few  over  a  hundred. 
Spinner  filled  three  large  books  with  statistics,  aside  from  the  con- 
sistorial  records,  Mteassi&9&J&&i*.  In  1815  Spinner  offered  himself 
to  the  Domestic  Board  for  Canadian  missionary  work,  but  was  not 
accepted  owing  to  his  inabiltiy  to  preach  English  fluently.  The 
church  was  almost  always  in  debt  to  him,  and  the  minutes  show 
constant  friction   ensuing.     In   1836  the  church   owed  him  $1,324.10, — 

48 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

so  exactingly  calculating  were  the  financiers  of  those  days,  and  this 
indebtedness  was  minutely  detailed  showing  a  pitiable  unconcern  for 
the  minister's  comfort  which  spirit,  is  prevalent  today  in  too  many 
churches.  The  domine  offered  to  donate  half  of  the  debt  if  they 
would  but  pay  the  rest.  They  gladly  accepted  his  offer  and  paid  him 
the  rest  out  of  the  sale  of  lands  that  were  deeded  to  the  church  for 
the  sole  support  of  the  ministry.  Toward  the  end  of  his  ministry, 
so  oppressed  was  he,  that  he  took  up  outside  work,  as,  for  instance 
he  taught  German  in  the  Utica  High  school  for  a  year  and  a  half. 
He  was  the  father  of  F.  E.  Spinner  who  was  the  treasurer  of  the 
United  States  under  Lincoln,  a  statue  of  whom  is  in  the  Herkimer  Park. 
Spinner  died  at  Herkimer  in  1848  (cf  Herkimer  in  re  Spinner).  In 
addition  to  Fort  Herkimer  and  Herkimer,  Spinner  often  looked  after 
work  at  Indian  Castle,  Columbia,  Warren,  Manheim,  Schuyler,  Deer- 
field,   Manlius,   etc. 

For  some  years  after  Spinner's  death  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by 
Rev.  Jedediah  L.  Stark  of  the  Mohawk  church  (cf),  who  became 
the  pastor  in  1862  and  died  in  186.3.  He  had  already  regularly  sup- 
plied the  church  thro  the  years  184^-1853,  after  which  it  was  vacant 
for  nearly  four  years.  He  was  the  last  resident  pastor  over  German 
Flatts.  An  old  subscription  shows  that  Stark  gave  his  salary  for 
one  year  (1861)  to  the  repairs  of  the  church,  which  thing  was  later 
done  by  both  Revs.  Brandow  and  Kinney.  The  income  of  the  church 
glebe  lands  could  not  be  diverted  from  the  pulpit  but  the  financiers 
at  German  Flatts  were  keen  on  administering  the  ministers'  salary. 

The  men  who  have  been  in  the  pulpits  of  Mohawk,  Herkimer, 
Canajoharie  and  Columbia  have  thro  most  of  the  years  since  Stark's 
pastorate  kept  the  church  going.  Among  these  men  have  been  Rev. 
Jeremiah  Petrie  of  Herkimer  (cf)  1864-1865,  the  Rev.  John  J.  Quick 
(1867-1868),  who  had  been  at  Currytown  (cf)  and  Mapletown;  Rev. 
'Gansevoort  D.  W.  Consaul  of  Mohawk  and,  later,  of  Herkimer  (cf); 
Rev.  Wm.  N.  Todd,  who  became  a  Presbyterian  in  189:2.  Dr.  Todd  is 
now  at  McAlistersville,  Pa.;  William  H.  Hoffman,  a  student  of  New 
Brunswick  for  the  summer  of  1874,  who  is  now  in  the  Deckerville 
(Mich.)  Presbyterian  church;  and  William  Johns  who  supplied  dur- 
ing 1873-1875  and  who  died  18$5.  After  this  and  for  five  years,  only 
summer  services  were  attempted.  During  the  summers  of  18S0  thro 
1885,  the  Rev.  Daniel  Lord  supplied  the  pulpit,  driving  over  from  the 
Henderson  church.  Dr.  Lord  was  at  Henderson  and  Jordanville  for 
nearly  thirty  years  of  his  life  (1851-1856;  1860-1864;  1878-1899).  He 
died  September  10,  1899.  He  was  a  grandson,  third  removed  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Benj.  Lord,  who  was  for  sixty-seven  years  pastor  of  the  Nor- 
wich (Cong.),  Ct.  church.  He  pursued  a  course  of  medicine  in  order 
to  increase  his  usefulness  among  the  people  of  his  parishes.  Rev. 
John  H.  Brandow  of  Mohawk  supplied  thro  1886  and  1887,  and  Rev. 
Albert  D.  Minor  was  pastor  from  1888  thro  1891.  Rev.  Ira  Van  Allen 
(cf  Mohawk)  from  1892  to  1896,  and  Mr.  J.  Abrew  Smith,  a  layman,  from 
1896  thro  1899.  Rev.  E.  J.  Meeker  supplied  from  June,  1900  to 
1903,  and  Rev.  J.  Dyke  of  Herkimer  (cf)  for  a  year  or  more  from 
June,   1905.     Rev.   C.  W.   Kinney  of  .Mohawk   (cf^from   1909   to   1911. 

In  1912,  following  work  done  by  the  Classical  Missionary,  Rev. 
W.  N.  P.  Dailey,  the  church  property  came  into  the  possession  of 
the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  since  which  time  it  has  been  supplied 
by   the    Missionary   and   also   by   Rev.    O.    E.    Beckes   of   the    Mohawk 

49 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

church.  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Brinckerhoff  and  the  Missionary  also  un- 
dertook to  restore  the  rights  of  the  church  in  the  glebe  rentals  and 
have  been  successful  in  the  main.  For  more  than  a  century  the  church 
has  depended  altogether  for  the  pulpit  support  on  the  income  of  the 
glebe  rents,  that  is,  the  perpetual  liens  on  lands  sold  many  years  ago. 
At  first  this  revenue  could  not  have  been  far  from  $500,  but  thro 
mismanagement  the  profits  now  will  not  reach  more  than  $150.  The 
membership  records  of  the  church  are  extant  from  1763  (excepting 
the  years  1865-1885).  There  are  some  financial  books,  and  papers, 
etc.,  all  of  which  are  in  the  keeping  of  the  Herkimer  church.  The 
oldest   ministerial   signature   extant  follows: 

V^'V'  T^^^W^^  y^&.  -r-*-~  est*.,*. j/^-i&JrJZZ^i 

1761  the  first  of  April  have  received  from  reverend  consistory  for  half  year's  salary  3l£ 

FULTONVILLE  REFORMED  CHURCH 

In  Revolutionary  days  the 
place  was  known  as  "Van 
Epps  Swamp."  From  the 
establishment  of  the  inn  in 
1795  by  John  Starin  the  place 
began  to  develop.  The  Re- 
formed Dutch  church  of  Ful- 
tonville  (named  after  Robert 
Fulton)  was  organized  No- 
vember 24,  1838,  eight  mem- 
bers of  the  Caughnawaga 
church  being  among  the 
charter  members.  The  Rev. 
James  B.  Stevenson,  at  the 
time  pastor  of  the  Florida 
church,  presided  at  the  or- 
ganization and  installed  the 
first  officers.  The  first  build- 
ing was  erected  in  1839,  Rev. 
Charles  Jukes  of  the  Glen 
church  conducting  the  dedi- 
catory exercises.  This  build- 
ing was  burned  in  1852,  and 
for  four  years  the  congregation  had  no  place  of  worship.  A  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  was  found  in  the  election  of  a  Board  of  Trustees, 
who  set  to  work  and  built  a  structure,  which  was  dedicated  in   1856, 


50 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Rev.  Isaac  N.  Wyckoff  of  Albany  preaching  the  sermon.  The  par- 
sonage had  been  built  in  1844,  during  the  pastorate  of  John  M. 
Van  Buren.  In  1882  it  was  enlarged.  At  the  incorporation  in  1838, 
the  trustees  were,  Evert  Yates,  Isaiah  DePuy,  Adam  Bell,  William 
A.  Smith.  The  first  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev.  David  Dyer 
(1841-1843),  of  whom  nothing  further  is  known.  Kis  successors 
were,  Rev.  John  M.  Van  Buren  (1842-1851),  who  next  went  to  Xew 
Lots  for  a  twenty  years'  service,  afterwards  retiring  from  the  active 
ministry,  he  wrote  for  the  religious  press,  and  died  at  Nyack,  N.  Y., 
May  12,  1892.  Mr.  Van  Buren  united  with  the  Kinderhook  church 
in  1831.  He  aided  Simms  in  the  preparation  of  his  Schoharie  County 
History.  He  married  a  sister  of  Rev.  J.  C.  F.  Hoes  (cf).  (A  son, 
Peter  Van  Buren,  born  at  Fultonville,  graduated  from  New  York 
University  in  1864,  and  from  New  Brunswick  in  1867,  but  died  in 
July  of  the  same  year).  Rev.  Ransford  Wells  (1857-1868),  who  had 
been  Canajoharie's  first  pastor  (cf);  Rev.  Henry  L.  Teller,  a  Presby- 
terian minister,  who  supplied  for  half  of  the  year,  1868;  Rev.  Francis 
M.  Kip  who  came  in  December,  1869,  and  remained  twelve  years, 
going  to  Harlingen,  N.  J.,  where  he  spent  twenty  years,  and  died  at 
Neshanic,  N.  J.  in  1911;  Rev.  Francis  V.  Van  Yranken,  the  fifth 
pastor  of  the  church  who  came  in  1882  and  remained  thro  1892,  and 
is  now  retired  at  Albany,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  Wm.  Schmitz,  who  was  pastor 
for  nine  years,  or  until  1901,  and  is  now  at  work  in  Pennsylvania;  Rev. 
Isaac  Van  Hee  (1901-1905),  who  is  at  present  doing  social  work  in 
the  Ford  factories  in  Detroit,  Mich.;  Rev.  James  Edward  Grant,  who 
began  work  in  1906  and  completed  a  pastorate  of  six  years  on 
January  1,  1913.  Rev.  Edward  B.  Irish  came  from  the  seminary  to 
the  church  in  the  Spring  of  1913,  and  was  ordained  and  installed 
by  the   Classis  of  Montgomery. 

CLEN  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  village  was  first  called 
"Voorhistown,"  and,  later, 
and  until  1860,  "Voorhees- 
ville."  Its  present  name  came 
from  Jacob  S.  Glen,  who 
owned  most  of  the  land  where 
the  village  is  now  situated. 
In  1740  Sir  William  Johnson 
brot  eighteen  Irish  families 
to  settle  at  Glen,  but  they 
remained  only  a  short  time, 
returning  to  their  native 
land.  The  first  permanent 
s  e  t  tl  e  r  s  were  from  New 
Jersey,  and  were  Hollanders 
or  of  Holland  descent. 
Originally  the  church  stood 
in  a  dense  forest.  The  earliest 
consistory  or  congregational  record  is  dated  July  5,  1794,  while  the 
first  consistorial  book  was  begun  in  1804.  In  those  early  days  one 
reads  often  the  names  of  Conover,  Ostrom,  Mount,  Van  Derveer, 
Hoff,   Voorhees,   Edwards,   Vrooman,   Vedder,   Pruyn,   Wood,    Enders, 


51 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

Putman,  etc.  It  is  difficult  to  decide  on  the  date  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Glen  church,  but  inasmuch  as  a  congregation  existed  as 
early  as  July,  1794,  and  on  February  6,  1795,  it  was  agreed  to  buy  an 
acre  of  land  for  the  church  of  Daniel  Lane,  it  would  seem  as  if  we 
might  put  the  organization  of  the  church  as  early  as  1793,  tho  we 
are  disposed  to  think  that  the  New  Jersey  folks  who  settled  here, 
especially  being  of  Holland  extraction,  did  not  long  wait  to  organize 
their  church.  On  July  15,  1797,  the  consistory  appointed  a  committee  to 
meet  with  another  committee  appointed  by  the  villagers  to  arrange  for 
a  new  church  building,  thus  evidencing  the  fact  that  a  congregation 
and  church  had  already  had  a  long  time  existed  if  it  required  a  new 
building.  The  church  committee  consisted  of  Pearly  Brown,  Timothy 
Hutton,   and   John^B^aJia-rd.      After   a   brief   time   the   committee   were 


scectin-g.  a  nev 


successful  in  erectTn-g  anew  edifice  at  a  cost  of  Sf^SfljIr  which  served  Z-,^3* 
the  congregation  for  seventy  years.  There  is  a  record  that  on  March 
15,  1806,  John  and  Mrs.  Ann  Ostrom  deeded  the  land  on  which  the 
church  stood  to  the  organization,  which  deed  is  recorded  at  Fonda, 
November  28,  1839.  Ezekiel  Belding's  survey  of  this  church  lot, 
which  was  a  part  of  Lot  No.  14  of  the  Glen  Patent,  and,  contained 
an  acre  and  a  half,  is  dated,  Charleston  November  18,  1800,  and  it 
is  specified  on  this  survey  as  the  lot  that  John  Ostrom  and  his  wife, 
Nancy,  have  deed  to  the  church.  A  parsonage  was  soon  added  to 
the  church  property,  built  sometime  prior  to  1814  when  repairs  were 
made  to  the  same.  The  church,  too,  was  repaired  in  1814.  The 
first  pastor  of  the  Glen  church  was  Rev.  Henry  V.  Wyck- 
off  (1799-1803)  who,  later,  became  interested  in  the  "Wyckofite" 
movement,  or  "True  Dutch  Reformed  Church"  as  those  who  seceded 
from  the  Dutch  church  styled  themselves.  One  of  the  Notes  gives 
a  brief  history  of  this  defection  from  the  denomination.  Following 
Wyckoff,  who  went  to  the  newly  organized  Second  Charleston 
church,  came  Rev.  Peter  Van  Buren  (1804-1814),  who  at  the  same 
time  was  preaching  in  the  First  Reformed  church  of  Charleston  (cf). 
He  was  ordained  by  Montgomery  Classis  and  was  installed  over 
Glen,  February  19,  1805.  He  remained  more  than  ten  years,  going  to 
Schodack  in  1814.  He  died  in  1832.  The  next  to  occupy  the  pulpit 
was  Rev.  J.  R.  H.  Hasbrouck  (1814-1826),  who  was,  also,  the  supply 
of  the  First  Charleston  congregation,  and  what  was  known  as  the 
Canajoharie  field  which  embraced  Mapletown  and  Westerlo  (Sprak- 
ers).  Revs.  Hasbrouck  and  Wyckoff  in  time  went  to  extremes  over 
their  varying  opinions  and  this  resulted  in  weakening  both  the 
churches  at  Charleston  and  the  Glen  church.  From  Glen  Rev.  Has- 
brouck went  to  the  Root  (Currytown)  church  (1826-1830).  For  ten 
years  the  church  felt  the  influence  of  this  enmity  between  Has- 
brouck and  Wyckoff.     Hasbrouck  died  in  1854. 

Rev.  Jonathan  F.  Morris  whose  name  is  frequently  met  with 
in  the  annals  of  the  Classis  of  Montgomery  was  the  Classical  Mis- 
sionary for  his  day,  serving  in  this  capacity  the  churches  of  Ovid, 
Fayette,  Poultneyville,  Amsterdam,  Stone  Arabia,  Ephratah,  Asquach, 
Herkimer,  and  for  two  or  three  years  the  Glen  church  (1827-1829). 
He  died  July  11,  1886,  aged  eighty-five.  He  was  followed  in  this 
work  by  Rev.  Alanson  B.  Chittenden  (1831-1834),  who  had  previously 
supplied  the  Glen  church  occasionally.  Chittenden's  last  pastorate 
was  at  Sharon.  He  died  in  1853  at  Schenectady.  During  1836  the 
pulpit   was   supplied  by   Rev.   Adam   M.   Leckner,   of  whom   we   know 

5? 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

nothing  further.  Rev.  Charles  Jukes  followed  (1838-1844),  going 
next  to  Stone  Arabia  (cf)  and  Ephratah.  Rev.  Jas.  P.  Fisher,  a 
Union  Seminary  man,  supplied  the  pulpit  during  1845  and  1846.  Mr. 
Fisher  died  in  1865. 

It  was  during  Rev.  Juke's  pastorate  that  the  sheds  were  built 
and  extensive  repairs  made  on  the  old  church.  The  entrance  faced 
the  highway,  and  in  the  vestibule  were  stairs  leading  to  the  galleries, 
extending  round  the  three  sides  of  the  auditorium.  The  west  gallery 
was  for  the  older  youth  of  the  church.  In  the  eastern  gallery  were 
reservations  for  the  colored  folks.  In  the  west  gallery  behind  parted 
scarlet  curtains  were  the  choir  and  chorister,  the  music  of  which  was 
led  by  a  bass  viol  for  which  the  church  had  paid  $18.  Box  family 
pews  with  doors  were  on  the  three  sides,  and  so  built  that  a  portion 
of  the  family  had  their  backs  to  the  preacher  during  the  services.  A 
central  section  of  pews  was  built  higher  than  the  others.  The  pulpit 
was  built  for  one  person,  reached  with  a  long  flight  of  steps.  Original- 
ly there  was  a  sounding  board  over  the  pulpit,  as  in  the  German 
Flatts  church  of  today. 

Rev.  Garret  L.  Roof  was  the  next  settled  pastor  at  Glen.  He 
had  been  a  practicing  attorney  at  Canajoharie  before  entering  the 
ministry.  This  was  Roof's  first  charge,  to  which  he  came  in  Decem- 
ber, 1846,  and  remained  thro  October,  1850,  when  he  accepted  a  call 
to  the  recently  organized  church  at  Port  Jackson  (Amsterdam).  He 
was  followed  by  the  Rev.  Adam  H.  Van  Vranken  (October,  1851- 
1865),  who  was  ordained  by  the  Classis  when  installed  over  this 
church.  After  another  pastorate  of  equal  length  at  Centreville,  Mich., 
Mr.  Van  Vranken  died  in  1880.  A  brother  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  Francis 
V.  Van  Vranken  next  took  up  the  work  in  January,  1866,  and  re- 
mained thro  a  part  of  1874.  He,  later,  became  pastor  at  Fultonville 
(cf),  and  is  at  present  living  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  It  was  during  this  pas- 
torate that  a  village  lot  was  bot  for  $500,  and  a  new  church,  the  present 
one,  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $13,000.  The  frame  of  the  1795  church 
is  being  used  as  a  wagon  house.  Mr.  Van  Vranken  was  followed  by 
Rev.  Joseph  P.  Dysart  who  was  a  United  Presbyterian  minister,  and 
who  was  installed  at  Glen,  November  11,  1874,  remaining  on  the 
field  until  June  1,  1879,  when  he  entered  the  Troy  Presbytery.  Rev. 
Richard  L.  Schoonmaker  succeeded  Dysart  (1880-188:2).  He  was  the 
son  of  Rev.  Jacob  Schoonmaker  (1777-1852)  and  grandson  of  Rev. 
Henricus  Schoonmaker  (1739-1820),  two  of  the  most  renowned  min- 
isters of  the  Dutch  church.  Richard  L.  Schoonmaker  died  while 
pastor  at  Glen  in  1882.  Rev.  Sydney  O.  Lawsing  became  pastor  in 
January,  1883,  and  staid  thro  1888.  Mr.  Lawsing  was  born  in  Am- 
sterdam.    He  has  been  pastor  of  the  Kiskatom  church  since  1910. 

After  Mr.  Lawsing  came  Rev.  Joseph  B.  Thyne,  who  supplied 
the  pulpit  from  December,  1888,  thro  May,  1894.  Mr.  Thyne  spent 
his  last  years  at  Broadalbin  where  he  died  November  10,  1910.  Rev. 
Jasper  S.  Hogan,  now  of  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  was  called  to  the 
pastorate  in  1894,  and  was  ordained  and  installed  over  the  church  by 
the  Classis.  Here  he  remained  for  three  years,  going  next  to  Pomp- 
ton  Plains,  N.  J.  and  later  to  the  Lafayette  church  in  Jersey  City, 
N.  J.  Rev.  Hogan  published  a  history  of  the  church  in  1905, 
one  chapter  of  which  gives  a  succinct  account  of  the  "Wyckofite" 
movement,  which  still  clings  to  the  Glen  field.  Rev.  Raymond  A. 
Lansing  was  ordained  by  the   Classis  and  installed  over  the  church 

53 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

in  1897.  He  died  in  1903.  Rev.  Henry  Smith  came  to  Glen  in  Sep- 
tember, 1901,  and  resigned  in  November,  1903.  Rev.  Louis  F.  Sauer- 
brunn  was  installed  pastor  (1904-1905),  going  to  Ghent  in  October, 
1905,  then  to  Schodack  Landing  in  May,  1908,  and  in  December,  1902, 
to  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Chester,  N.  J.  Rev.  Edward  J.  Meeker 
was  installed  in  May,  1910,  and  resigned  in  November,  1914,  to  enter 
the  work  at  Lodi  (cf).  During  the  interval  between  Rev.  Sauerbrunn 
and  Rev.  Meeker,  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Chas.  A.  Conant  of 
Schenectady  (November,  1905-April,  1909).  After  Mr.  Meeker  the 
pulpit  was  occasionally  supplied  by  the  Classical  Missionary,  Rev. 
W.   N.   P.   Dailey,  and   Rev.   Henry  G.  Dean   (Presb.)   of  Schenectady. 

MAG  AM  AN  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  Reformed  Pro- 
testant Dutch  Church 
of  Hagaman's  Mills  (as 
the  village  was  at  first 
called)  was  received 
into  the  Montgomery 
C  1  a  s  s  i  s  in  October, 
1855,  though  organized 
five  years  previously  as 
an  Independent  Pres- 
byterian church.  A  por- 
tion of  the  congrega- 
tion of  the  1st  Presby- 
terian church  of  Am- 
sterdam asked  the 
Presbytery  of  Sarato- 
ga to  divide  the  church, 
giving  to  them  the 
right  to  be  known  as 
the  Amsterdam  Pres- 
byterian church.  Tho 
a  majority  of  the  mem- 
bers opposed  the  me- 
morial, still  the  Presbytery  yielded  to  the  minority.  Two-thirds  of 
the  congregation  withdrew  and  formed  the  United  and  Independent 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Hagaman's  Mills.  The  village  was  first 
settled  by  Joseph  Hagaman  in  1770,  who  came  from  Dutchess  county, 
and  was  of  Holland  descent.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  session 
of  the  original  church  became  the  first  session  of  the  Independent 
Church,- — Aaron  Marcellus,  Gilbert  Conner,  Joseph  Hageman,  Francis 
M.  Hageman,  and  Myndert  Pauling  being  the  elders,  and  Jeremiah 
W.  Hageman  and  Henry  Rowe  being  the  deacons.  The  act  of  Pres- 
bytery was  the  first  Tuesday  of  January  in  1850,  but  before  the  month 
was  out  the  other  church  was  formed,  David  W.  Candee  being  the 
moderator,  and  John  W.  Thatcher  the  clerk  of  the  meeting.  There 
were  a  hundred  members  at  the  start.  The  church  called  Rev.  Charles 
Milne  to  become  their  pastor.  He  was  the  pastor  of  the  church  lie- 
fore  the  division.  This  church  was  independent  of  the  Saratoga 
Presbytery.      In    February,    1855,    the    congregation    voted    to    change 


54 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

their  name  to  the  Hagaman  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  go  to  Classis  with  such  petition 
which  was  favorably  acted  upon.  In  its  first  report  to  Classis  the 
church  numbered  fifty  families  and  sixty-one  members. 

The  first  pastor  of  the  Hagaman  church  was  Rev.  J.  Lansing 
Pearse  (uncle  of  Rev.  R.  A.  Pearse  of  Minaville,  cf),  who  was 
ordained,  and  installed  over  the  church  in  the  latter  part  of  1856, 
by  the  Classis  of  Montgomery.  After  leaving  this  field  in  November, 
1859,  Mr.  Pearse  went  to  the  Delmar  church,  which  he  served  for 
about  forty  years,  dying  there  in  the  pastorate  in  1908.  For  tlv.j 
most  of  this  time  he  was  the.  stated  clerk  of  the  Classis  of  Albany. 
Rev.  Elbert  Slingerland,  who  had  previously  held  pastorates  at  Chit- 
tenango  and  Mohawk  (cf)  was  installed  in  August.  18G0,  and  re- 
mained thro  most  of  1862.  He  was  the  sixth  pastor  at  Scotia,  N.  Y. 
(1857-1860).  Later  he  was  pastor  at  Mohawk  for  the  second  time 
for  several  years  before  his  death  which  occurred  in  1876.  The  next 
pastorate  was  the  longest  in  the  history  of  the  church  (1863-1887), 
and  was  ably  filled  by  Rev.  Andrew  J.  Hageman,  who  was  ordained 
by  the  Montgomery  Classis  in  this  church.  After  another 
pastorate  at  St.  Thomas,  D.  W.  I.  (1887-1890),  Mr.  Hageman  de- 
veloped a  throat  trouble  which  kept  him  for  a  quarter-century  out 
of  the  active  work  of  the  pastorate,  tho  he  occasionally  supplied 
pulpits  until  his  death  in  1912,  at  Somerville,  N.  J. 

Rev.  Maurice  G.  Hansen  succeeded  Hageman  at  Hagaman  in 
1887  and  remained  here  thro  1893.  This  was  his  last  pastorate.  He 
died  in  1904.  Mr.  Hansen  was  a  voluminous  writer  for  the  religious 
press,  and  also  translated  much  from  the  Dutch,  especially  of  the 
old  prints  and  documents  of  the  church  at  its  foundation  in  America. 
Rev.  William  A.  Wurts  followed  Rev.  Hansen  in  1893  and  staid  thro 

1901.  Mr.  Wurts  had  already  been  in  the  Canastota  church  for  eight 
years,  and  also  at  Lysander  (cf)  for  six  years.  After  leaving 
Hagaman  he  took  up  work  at  Sharon,  N.  Y.,  in  which  field  he  spent 
about  eight  years,  next  supplying  the  church  at  Lawyersville,  N.  Y. 
for  a  few  years.  He  is  now  living  at  Sharon  Springs  and  occasional- 
ly supplies  vacant  churches. 

Rev.  David  C.  Weidner  was  the  third  pastor  at  Hagaman  to  lie 
ordained  in  the  church  by  the   Classis  of  Montgomery.     This  was  in 

1902,  and  Rev.  Weidner  remained  about  four  years,  going  next  to 
Schuylerville,  N.  Y.,  from  which  field  he  went  to  the  Park  church 
of  Jersey  City  in  1913.  Rev.  George  G.  Seibert  came  to  Hagaman 
from  the  Helderbergh  church  at  Guilderland  Centre  in  1906,  and 
resigned  in  1911  to  take  up  the  important  work  at  the  Owasco  field. 
Mr.  Seibert  was  followed  in  the  pastorate  by  the  present  pastor,  Rev. 
Charles  V.  W.  Bedford,  who  had  already  had  charges  in  the  Classis 
at  Johnstown,  Currytown  and  Sprakers.  During  Mr.  Seibert's  pas- 
torate the  church  was  extensively  repaired,  and  during  the  present 
pastorate  a  new  chapel  has  been  erected,  the  gift  of  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church,  Mrs.  Caroline  Yates. 


55 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


HERKIMER  REFORMED  CHURCH 


■ 

Ill              ,&*fih( 

Ik  -  fe% 

r  '    .,        ** 

J   v.    _  _           *    -.-|L 

"*"*"*,*^«SS? 

The  history  of  the 
Herkimer  church  and 
that  of  Fort  Herkimer 
("German  Flatts")  is 
to  be  read  together, 
at  least  from  about 
the  coming  of  Abram 
Rosencrantz  to  the 
field  in  1752  down  to 
1841,  the  time  of  the 
cessation  of  the  dual 
pastorate.  Some 
thirty  years  ago  Rev. 
Henry  M.  Cox,  then 
pastor  of  the  Herki- 
mer church  wrote 
a  n  interesting  his- 
tory of  Herkimer 
and  of  the  Palatine 
migration  to  this 
country,  of  which  .we 
speak  in  detail  in 
a  separate  chapter  herein.  The  number,  however,  who  came 
with  Rev.  Joshua  Kochertal  in  1708  numbered  fifty-one — not  forty, 
as  Cox  writes.  In  our  story  of  Fort  Herkimer  we  show,  also,  that 
the  date  1767,  found  roughly  cut  in  a  stone  on  the  west  side  is  not, 
necessarily,  the  date  of  the  building  of  the  church,  as  Cox  says, 
since  record  books  still  extant  show  that  the  subscriptions  were  be- 
gun as  early  as  1740,  and  the  building  was  started  as  early  as  this, 
if  not  earlier,  and  while  a  second  appeal  was  made  in  1746  for  more 
funds,  the  entire  sum  sufficient  was  raised  and  the  church  was  used 
for  services  (as  well  as  a  means  of  refuge  by  the  settlers)  as  early 
as  1751.  Mr.  Cox  says  that  there  is  no  record  of  any  sort  to  show 
the  religious  condition  of  the  community  (Herkimer,  originally  called 
"Stone  Ridge"),  until  1757.  He  refers  to  a  will  made  by  Nicholas 
Feller  in  1734  in  which  a  bequest  is  made  of  the  testator's  seat  in  his 
church, — but  whether  this  church  was  in  what  is  now  Herkimer  or 
was  at  Fort  Herkimer,  Mr.  Cox  cannot  say,  tho  he  is  inclined  to 
think  it  was  in  the  church  of  which  he  was  the  pastor  at  Herkimer. 
However,  the  name  of  the  legatee,  Han  Nicholas  Crisman,  is  among 
the  pew  holders  and  members  of  the  German  Flatts  congregation. 
We  have  shown  in  our  Fort  Herkimer  history  that  Rev.  George  M. 
Weiss  was  the  first  known  pastor  at  German  Flatts,  being  there 
as  early  as  1736.  Mr.  Cox  makes  no  mention  of  Weiss  but  refers 
to  a  Lutheran  minister  as  the  first  pastor  at  Herkimer.  Weiss  came 
to  America  about  1720,  and  then  returned  to  the  Palatinate  on  the 
Rhine,  to  come  back  for  permanent  residence  here  in  1727.  But  he 
was  a  "Minister  of  the  Reformed  Palatinate  Church"  (as  he  signed 
himself)  and  not  a  Lutheran.  Undoubtedly  Weiss  often  supplied 
the  Herkimer  congregation,  if,  indeed,  there  was  any  congregation 
during  the  decade   (1736-1746)   that  he  was  settled  at  German   Flatts. 


56 


HISTORY  OF   MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

It  is  not  known  when  the  original  church  was  built  at  Herkimer, 
which  was  burned  in  1757  by  the  French,  but  it  is  represented  on  an 
old  sketch  as  being  octagonal  in  form  with  the  traditional  rooster 
as  a  weather  vane  and  throughout  of  typical  Dutch  architecture.  It 
is  also  not  known  when  the  church  was  rebuilt  or  the  services  re- 
sumed, but  on  the  return  of  Johan  Jost  Petri,  who  had  been  carried 
a  captive  into  Canada,  at  the  time  of  the  French-Indian  raid  in  1757, 
he  took  steps  to  re-deed  the  land  to  the  church  for  a  new  building. 
This  was  in  1770,  but  it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  church  was  rebuilt 
until  some  years  after  this,  since  the  Indian  depredations  continued 
for  a  decade  or  more. 

To  turn  now  to  the  ministry  of  the  Flerkimer  church,  we  again 
refer  to  the  pastorate  of  George  Michael  Weiss  at  German  Flatts 
(1736-1746,  cf),  with  the  natural  supposition  that  he  also  supplied  any 
congregation  at  Herkimer,  and  then,  to  the  coming  of  Abram  Rosen- 
crantz'  brother  to  the  field,  which  date  (1750)  we  have  from  the 
correspondence  of  Rev.  Wernig  of  Stone  Arabia  with  the  Coetus  of  the 
Dutch  church  and  with  the  Classis  of  Holland.  Rev.  Abram  Rosencrantz' 
ministry  at  German  Flatts  began  immediately  upon  the  death  of  his 
brother  (1752).  A  receipt  for  salary  is  shown  under  Fort  Herkimer,  bear- 
ing date  of  April  10,  1761,  signed  by  Rosencrantz.  Both  men  were  buried 
under  the  pulpit  of  the  German  Flatts  church.  Of  Rosencrantz  we 
have  spoken  in  the  Fort  Herkimer  church  record  and  also  in  that  of 
Stone  Arabia,  where  he  also  preached  for  some  years.  Rosencrantz 
took  up  a  permanent  residence  at  German  Flatts  in  1765  and  at  the 
same  time  supplied  the  "Sand  Hill"  (Canajoharie)  church.  The 
work  at  Herkimer,  owing  to  the  unsettled  conditions  of  the  country, 
was  very  small,  but  whatever  attention  was  needed  was  given  by 
Rosencrantz  to  it.  He  lived  until  1796,  but  in  the  kistjew  vears  of 
his  ministry  he  was  aided  in  his  pulpit  work  by  Rev.  FifiriMKomofeff* 
of  Oneida*  who,  doubtless,  also  preached  during  these  yea£s  to  the 
congregaton  at  Herkimer.  The  statistical  records  of  the  church  dur- 
ing these  years  were  well  kept  by  Rosencrantz,  as  well  as  the  financial 
and  consistorial  minute  books.  In  the  old  register  are  to  be  seen 
the  names  of  many  who  were  conspicuous  in  the  work  of  the  church 
in  those-  days  as  well  of  note  in  the  civic  and  military  service  of  the 
state. 

Rev.  "D.  Christian  Andreas  Pick,  V.  D.  M."  (so  he  signed  his 
name)  succeeded  Rosencrantz  in  the  ministry  both  at  Herkimer  and 
German  Flatts,  between  which  churches  a  formal  contract  was  now 
entered  into  for  a  dual  pastorate,  which  prevailed  until  1841,  or  over 
a  period  of  forty  years.  Pick  was  to  preach  alternately  in  these  two 
fields.  His  ministry,  however,  was  brief  (1798-1801).  We  have  spok- 
en in  detail  of  his  work  under  Stone  Arabia  (cf).  Rev.  John  P. 
Spinner  came  to  the  church  at  Herkimer  (and  also  of  German  Flatts) 
in  1801  and  remained  for  forty-four  years.  Excepting  the  brief  stay 
of  Pick  these  two  fields  had  had  but  two  pastors  in  about  a  century, 
a  most  remarkable  record.  The  call  was  moderated  by  Rev.  Isaac 
Labagh,  at  the  time  preaching  at  Stone  Arabia  and  Canajoharie.  At 
the  beginning  of  Spinner's  ministry  (1804),  a  large  church  was  built 
on  the  original  site — probably  the  first  substantial  church  building 
since  the  burning  of  the  other  in  1757.  Another  church  had  been 
built  to  take  the  place  of  the  one  destroyed  in  1757,  since  the  call  to 


57 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Pick  refers  to  both  the  German  Flatts  and  Herkimer  church  building, 
while  Rev.  Taylor's  Journal  of  1802  speaks  of  the  "new  meeting  house 
which  lacked  all  improvements."  In  these  days  Herkimer  was  a 
German  settlement,  and  the  preaching  was  in  German,  though  the 
pastor  kept  his  records  in  Latin,  and  it  is  said  he  could  speak  five 
languages  fluently,  and  knew  quite  a  bit  about  three  more.  The 
church  built  in  1804  was  burned  in  1834,  and  in  1835  was  replaced  by 
the  present  brick  edifice  which  has  now  been  used  as  a  house  of 
worship  continuously  for  four  score  years.  In  1813  Spinner  reported 
three  hundred  and  sixty-four  members,  about  fifty  more  than  at 
German  Flatts. 

With  the  coming  into  the  village  of  many  English  speaking 
families  a  desire  for  English  service  was  urged.  This  caused  a 
division  in  the  church  with  the  result  that  a  Second  Herkimer  church 
was  organized  in  1824  (cf  under  extinct  churches)  and  ran  along  for 
some  twelve  years,  when  it  was  merged  into  the  original  church. 
Neither  church  prospered  during  these  years,  but  with  the  building 
of  the  new  structure,  Rev.  Spinner  continued  to  preach  in  the  German 
and  Rev.  James  Murphey,  who  at  the  time  was  pastor  at  Manheim, 
began  his  work  in  the  Herkimer  church,  preaching  in  the  English 
language.  In  1841  Spinner  resigned  from  the  Herkimer  church,  giving 
the  rest  of  his  ministry  to  the  church  at  German  Flatts.  Rev.  James 
Murphey  began  his  work,  as  we  have  said,  at  Herkimer  in  1836,  fol- 
lowing an  eight  year  pastorate  at  Scotia,  N.  Y.  On  Spinner's  resig- 
nation he  became  the  pastor,  and  continued  so  until  1842,  at  the  time 
supplying  the  churches  at  Frankfort  and  Mohawk,  which  he  or- 
ganized. In  1842  he  resigned  the  field  and  went  to  Coeymans,  but 
was  recalled  to  the  Herkimer  church  for  a  seven  year  pastorate  (1843- 
1849).  It  was  during  this  last  pastorate  that  a  revival  occurred  in 
the  church  which  resulted  in  the  addition  of  great  numbers  to  the 
church.  Mr.  Murpli^  on  resigning  from  this  pastorate  in  1849,  sup- 
plied the  churches  at  Frankfort  and  Columbia.     He  died  in   1857. 

Rev.  Cornelius  S.  Mead  was  the  next  pastor  coming  from  the 
1st  Rotterdam  church  and  spending  a  decade  in  the  Herkimer  church 
(18^0-1859).  He  had  one  other  pastorate  at  Chatham,  N.  Y.  During 
the  last  years  of  his  life  he  supplied  the  churches  of  Ghent,  Stuyvesant 
Falls,  New  Concord,  etc.  He  died  June  26,  1879,  at  Chatham,  N.  Y., 
and  was  there  buried.  Rev.  Hugh  B.  Gardiner  next  came  to  the 
church  in  1860  from  Coeyman's  and  New  Baltimore,  and  was  here 
for  four  or  five  years  (1860-1864).  He  re-entered  the  Presbyterian 
ministry  and  died  July  23,  1874,  at  Brooklyn.  He  was  succeeded  in  the 
latter  part  of  1864,  by  Rev.  Jeremiah  Petrie,  a  native  of  Herkimer, 
and  a  Presbyterian  pastor,  who  supplied  the  pulpit  for  several  years 
(1864-1868),  preaching  also  at  Ilion,  which  church  was  organized  at 
this  time  and  he  is  the  only  known  pastor.  He  died  in  1910  in  his 
85th  year.  He  compiled  an  excellent  record  of  the  Petrie  family. 
The  next  pastor  of  the  church  was  Rev.  Ganesvoort  Consaul,  who 
tho  licensed  by  the  Schenectady  Classis  in  1861,  did  not  receive  or- 
dination from  the  Montgomery  Classis  until  June  23,  1868,  after  he 
had  supplied  Fort  Plain  several  years,  and  while  preaching  at  Mo- 
hawk. His  ministry  at  Herkimer  began  in  1869  and  ran  thro  1877. 
While  traveling  abroad,  where  for  a  year  he  supplied  the  American 
church  at  Geneva,  he  was  allowed  to  demit  the  ministry,  April  15,  1879. 
It  was  during  his  ministry  that  the  interior  of  the  church  received  its 

58 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

handsome  decoration  of  black  walnut,  and  the  imported  English 
windows  were  put  in.  For  a  number  of  years  Mr.  Consaul  was  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  business  in  Watertown,  N.  Y.  On  August  30, 
1898,  he  was  accidentally  and  fatally  shot  while  on  a  hunting  ex- 
pedition. Following  Consaul  the  Rev.  Ralph  W.  Brokaw  was 
called  to  the  pastorate  and  was  ordained  by  the  Classis  of  Mont- 
gomery in  1877,  and  remained  with  the  church  for  five  years, 
going  in  188:2  to  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Congregational  church, 
for  a  pastorate  of  similar  length.  In  1898  he  became  the 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Utica  where  he 
still  abides  in  his  strength.  Rev.  Henry  M.  Cox  succeeded 
Brokaw  in  1882  and  resigned  in  1890.  Leaving  Herkimer  he  spent 
twenty  years  in  two  pastorates  in  New  York  City,  and  since  1911  has 
been  in  the  Harrington  Park,  N.  J.  church.  Rev.  John  G.  Gebhard 
next  came  to  the  church  and  served  it  for  nine  years  (1891-1900). 
During  this  pastorate  a  commodious  stone  chapel  was  built  in  1894. 
On  leaving  Herkimer  Mr.  Gebhard  became  the  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Education  of  the  Reformed  Church  which  he  has  most 
acceptably  filled  ever  since.  Three  short  pastorates  next  ensued. 
Rev.  Chalmers  P.  Dyke  (1900-1903),  who  went  from  Herkimer  to 
the  Hamilton  Grange  church  of  New  York  City  for  a  four  year 
pastorate,  since  which  time  he  has  been  in  the  Lowell  (Mass.)  Congre- 
gational church.  Following  in  the  work  at  Herkimer  Rev.  Jacob  Dyke 
(brother  of  his  predecessor),  was  pastor  for  thirteen  months  (De- 
cember, 1903-1905),  having  come  to  the  field  after  a  few  years  in 
the  Episcopal  church  of  Iowa  and  South  Dakota,  tho  he  came  into 
the  Classis  from  the  Congregational  church.  On  leaving  Herki- 
mer he  supplied  the  Mayfield  Presbyterian  church  for  a  couple  of 
years,  and,  later,  was  in  the  pulpit  of  the  New  Salem  Reformed 
church,  tho  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  body.  At  present  he  is 
serving  the  East  Moriches  (L.  I.)  Presbyterian  field.  Rev.  Charles  F. 
Taylor  who  had  been  a  Presbyterian  missionary  in  New  Mexico,  and 
for  a  couple  years  previous  to  coming  to  this  field  was  engaged  in 
special  evangelistic  work,  was  the  pastor  during  1905  and  1906,  go- 
ing next,  after  a  year's  interim,  to  his  present  pastorate  in  the  Westv 
port  (Ct.)  Congregational  church,  and  since  1913  has  been  pastor  of 
the   Greenwich,  Ct.   Congregational  church. 

Rev.  B.  E.  Fake,  who  has  frequently  supplied  churches  in  our 
Classis,  a  Lutheran  minister,  supplied  the  Herkimer  pulpit  from 
June,  1907,  to  September,  1908.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  J.  Howard 
Brinckerhoff,  after  supplying  the  pulpit  for  two  months,  was  ordained 
by  the  Classis  and  installed  over  the  church  in  February,  1909.  Dur- 
ing this  pastorate  most  extensive  interior  improvements  have  been 
made,  a  new  organ  secured,  and  the  church  has  been  greatly  strength- 
ened along  all  its  lines  of  work. 

INTERLAKEN  REFORMED  CHURCH 

This  church  was  formerly  known  as  the  "Farmer  Village  Re- 
formed Dutch  Church"  and  was  incorporated  in  1830.  On  October 
28,  1830,  pursuant  to  a  resolution  passed  by  the  Consistory  of  the 
Lodi  Reformed  church  (cf),  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  the  place 
was    held    and    the    following    chosen    as    the    first    consistory    of    the 

59 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


church:  Peter  Rappleye,  John  Kelly  and  Joseph  Smith,  elders,  and 
Jacob  Voorhees  and  Peter  Ditmars,  deacons.  These  were  installed  by 
Rev.  Asa  Bennett,  pastor  of  the  Lodi  church,  on  November  :?|th, 
1830.  Bennett's  call  to  the  Lodi  church  provided  that  he  should 
spend  one-fourth  of  his  time  at  Farmer  Village.  For  several  months 
after  the  organization  these  men  were  the  only  members  of  the  new 
church.  The  church  building  was  dedicated  September  28,  1831,  the 
Rev.  J.  F.  Schermerhorn  preaching  the  sermon.  On  June  8,  1831, 
a  call  was  extended  to  Oscar  H.  Gregory  of  New  Brunswick  Seminary, 
which  was  accepted,  and  on  August  11  following,  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  pastor  of  the  church.  At  the  time  there  were  thirty- 
one  members,  but  within  two  weeks  thereafter  twenty-five  united 
with  the  church.  The  first  Sunday  school  was  organized  in  1832. 
Isaac  Covert  was  chosen  superintendent,  served  one  year,  and  was 
succeeded  by  James  C.  Knight,  who  held  the  position  thirty-nine 
years.  Also  during  this  pastorate  the  first  parsonage  was  built  on 
the  spot  where  the  present  one  now  stands,  on  land  given  by  Peter 
Rappleye,  who  had"  also  given  the  land  for  the  church  building.  This 
pastorate  closed,  with  great  regret  among  the  people,  after  a  period 
of  six  j^ears  and  eight  months.  Later  Dr.  Gregory  was  pastor  of  the 
North  church  at  Watervliet  (1848-1870).  He  was  President  of  General 
Synod  in  1860.  Union  College  gave  him  the  degree  of  D.  D.  in  1853. 
He  died  December  "11,  1885,  at  Watervliet. 

Rev.  Benjamin  Bassler  was  the  next  pastor,  commencing  work 
September  1,  1838,  and  continuing  until  his  death  twenty-seven  years 
later    (1866).      Mr.    Bassler    came    to    the    church    from    Sharon    and 


60 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Cobleskill.  He  was  a  Swiss  by  birth.  He  began  his  ministry 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances;  the  church  was  prosper- 
ous, out  of  debt,  the  congregation  increased  in  strength  and  num- 
bers. The  parsonage  was  repaired  at  a  expense  of  several  hundred 
dollars  in  1842.  In  1850  a  session  house  was  built  at  a  cost  of 
$604.  In  the  year  1857  the  church  building  was  extensively  repaired 
at  a  cost  of  $3,000;  an  addition  of  nineteen  feet  was  made.  The 
galleries  running  around  three  sides  of  the  auditorium  were  taken 
down,  and  the  pulpit  removed  from  the  west  to  the  east  end  of  the 
room.  On  September  6,  1857,  the  church  was  rededicated,  the  Rev. 
O.  H.  Gregory  preaching.  The  parsonage  was  again  repaired  in 
1860,  at  a  cost  of  $450,  and  a  new  organ  costing  $1,000  was  purchased 
in  1861.  More  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  received  into  the 
church  during  Mr.  Bassler's  ministry.  Rev.  Wm.  W.  Brush  succeeded 
Bassler,  coming  to  the  church  from  the  New  Brunswick  Seminary 
in  1866,  being  ordained  and  installed  in  June  of  that  year.  Twenty- 
three  were  added  to  the  church  during  his  pastorate.  Leaving  in  April, 
1868,  he  went  next  to  Marbletown  (Ulster  Co.),  and,  later,  to  Geneva. 
He  died  in  1878.  Rev.  Albert  A.  Zabriskie  followed,  coming  also  from 
New  Brunswick,  and  was  ordained  by  the  Geneva  Classis  and  in- 
stalled over  the  church  July  29,  1868,  resigning  November  1,  1869. 
Twenty-six  were  added  to  the  church  in  this  pastorate.  After  ten 
pastorates  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  Mr.  Zabriskie  became  pastor 
of  the  Bloomington,  N.  Y.  church,  his  present  field. 

The  Rev.  J.  C.  Forsythe  succeeded  Rev.  Mr.  Zabriskie,  com- 
mencing his  labors  in  May,  1870.  The  parsonage  was  again  repaired 
at  a  cost  of  about  $450,  and  thirty  were  added  to  the  church  during 
the  five  years  of  his  ministry  here.  Leaving  Interlaken  he  entered 
the  Presbyterian  church.  He  died  in  1898.  In  November,  1875,  Rev. 
Philip  Furbeck  was  called  and  his  pastorate  continued  until  October, 
1881.  Fifty  were  added  to  the  membership  of  the  church  under  his 
ministry.  In  1877  the  interior  of  the  church  was  extensively  repaired 
at  a  cost  of  about  $2,500.  Mr.  Furbeck  had  a  four  year  pastorate  at 
Fonda  (cf).  He  went  next  to  Little  Falls,  N.  J.  for  a  six  year  pas- 
torate, then  returned  to  the  Montgomery  Classis  and  was  at  St. 
Johnsville  for  five  years  (1888-1892).  He  died  after  a  pastorate  at 
Taghkanick,  July  23,  1899.  After  Mr.  Furbeck,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Nas- 
holds  was  called,  and  installed  March  1,  1882.  During  his  service  the 
old  parsonage  was  sold  and  removed  and  the  present  one  built  on  the 
old  site.  The  total  cost  for  building  the  new  parsonage  and  repair- 
ing the  barn  was  $2,800.  Thirty-seven  were  admitted  to  the  church 
during  his  pastorate,  which  terminated  October  1st,  1887.  Mr.  Nas- 
holds  had  come  to  Interlaken  from  Geneva  (cf).  Since  1905  he  has 
been  in  the  Second  Church  of  Rotterdam.  In  May,  1888,  the  Rev. 
F.  W.  Palmer  accepted  a  call  from  the  church  and  was  installed  July 
19th,  continuing  to  serve  until  February  15,  1893.  During  this  period 
the  church  grew  rapidly  in  membership  and  in  power,  and  enjoyed 
great  prosperity.  One  hundred  and  forty  members  were  admitted 
into  the  church,  and  the  membership  numbered  about  two  hundred 
and  sixty.  The  old  session  house  was  taken  down  and  an  addition 
was  built  on  to  the  church,  comprising  parlors,  dining  hall,  and 
kitchen  at  a  cost  of  $1,200,  in  1889.  At  the  April  communion  in  1890, 
thirty-eight  were  received.  Mr.  Palmer  also  organized  the  Christian 
Endeavor,  King's  Daughters  and  Young  Ladies'  Missionary  Society. 

61 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Mr.  Palmer  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry  and  has  served  for 
many  years  in  Auburn  as  pastor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian  church. 
The  present  pastor,  Rev.  E.  B.  Van  Arsdale,  was  ordained  and 
installed  in  this  his  first  pastorate  on  the  8th  day  of  August,  1893. 
During  these  years  about  one  hundred  and  eighty-five  have  been  re- 
ceived into  the  church.  In  the  Fall  of  1904  the  church  building  was 
thoroughly  renovated  at  an  expense  of  $3,000.  The  church  was  re- 
dedicated  January  12,  1905,  the  sermon  being  given  by  Rev.  F.  W. 
Palmer  of  Auburn,  a  former  pastor.  This  church,  now  in  its  eighty- 
fifth  year,  has  had  a  record  of  steady  growth  in  numbers,  of  whole- 
some, spiritual  development,  of  prosperous,  financial  administration, 
is  thoroughly  organized  and  active  in  all  departments  of  its  life,  and 
is  today  a  leading  influence  in  community  affairs,  and  a  loyal  sup- 
porter of  the   interests  of  the   denomination   and   the   kingdom. 


JOHNSTOWN  REFORMED  CHURCH 


When  Sir  Wm.  Johnson  settled  here  in  1762  he  called  the  place 
after  his  son,  Johns-town.  The  old  jail  and  Johnson  Hall  built  at 
this  time  are  well  preserved  buildings  to  this  date.  Under  the  extinct 
churches  it  will  be  noted  that  many  efforts  were  made  in  other  days 
to  establish  a  Reformed  Dutch  church  at  Johnstown.  Churches  were 
organized  at  Kingsborough,  Mayfield,  Fondas  Bush  and  other  near 
by  places.  Here  at  Johnstown,  tho  preaching  services  were  regularly 
conducted  by  the  pastors  at  Fonda  and  Amsterdam  (Ten  Eyck  and 
Van  Home), and  an  organization  was  incorporated  under  the  title  of  the 
"Kingsborough  Reformed  Church."  still  the  church  of  longest  duration 
was  the  "True  Reformed"  or  "Wyckofite"  church  which  was  begun  in 
1821  and  ended  in  1855.  A  church  building,  erected  in  1838,  is  still 
standing  and  occasionally  used  by  the  Glen  preacher.  The  present  Re- 


62 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

formed  church  of  Johnstown  was  organized  in  1894.  Rev.  J.  H.  Enders, 
Synod  Missionary  and  Rev.  Wm.  Schmitz  of  Fultonville  conducted  the 
initial  services  in  the  Fire  Engine  House  near  the  Fair  grounds  in  1893. 
During  the  Summer  of  1894  Rev.  H.  C.  Willoughby  gathered  the 
nucleus  of  a  church.  On  October  10,  1894,' the  organization  was  ef- 
fected with  seventeen  members.  Ground  was  secured  and  a  Christian 
Endeavor  church  (No.  3)  was  erected.  The  dedication  took  place 
February  6,  1895.  The  first  consistory  was,  Peter  Fox,  Wm.  C.  Van 
Alstyne,  elders,  and  T.  W.  Van  Slyke  and  Wm.  Topp,  deacons.  The 
first  pastor  was  Rev.  John  Van  Burk  who  came  to  it  from  the  dual 
pastorate  of  Clarksville  and  New  Salem.  After  eight  years  Mr.  Van 
Burk  resigned  to  accept  the  pastorate  of  the  Athens  church,  where 
he  remained  upwards  of  five  years,  going  in  1910  to  the  Congregation- 
al church  of  Monterey,  Mass.  He  is  now  supplying  the  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Swanton,  Vt.  Succeeding  Mr.  Van  Burk  was  Rev. 
Chas.  V.  W.  Bedford  who  was  ordained  by  the  Montgomery  Classis 
and  came  to  the  field  in  1902,  and  remained  thro  1909,  going  next 
to  a  three  years  stated  supply  of  the  Currytown-Sprakers  field,  and 
in  1912  taking  up  work  at  Hagaman  where  he  is  at  present  pastor. 
During  this  pastorate,  in  1904,  the  Hillside  Park  chapel  was  bot  and 
added  to  the  rear  of  the  church..  Following  Mr.  Bedford  came  Rev. 
Peter  S.  Beekman,  who  had  already  been  a  member  of  the  Classis 
(Currytown,  1893-1901).  Mr.  Beekman  began  his  work  at  Johns- 
town in  1909  and  is  the  present  pastor.  In  1909  the  present  par- 
sonage was  built.  In  1915  eighty-five  members  were  received. 
The  men  of  the  consistory  are  V.  J.  Lasher,  Nicholas  Glenar, 
Frank  Billington,  and  W.  J.  Sprakers,  elders,  and  Henry  Edwards, 
George  Person,  Fred  J.  Vosburgh  and  George  Pedrick,  deacons.  In 
connection  with  the  Johnstown  work  a  Union  work  is  kept  up  at 
Sammonsville.  Formerly,  especially  in  Rev.  Boyd's  day,  the  Fonda 
church  looked  after  this  work.  This  movement  is  a  half  century  old 
and  the  services  are  held  in  the  public  school  building.  During  a 
recent  evangelistic  campaign  in  Johnstown,  eighty-five  members  were 
added  to  the  roll. 

LODI  REFORMED  CHURCH 

The  first  church  in  Lodi  (Seneca  county)  was  Presbyterian,  or- 
ganized in  1800  by  the  Rev.  John  Lindsay  who  remained  with  the 
church  until  1805.  The  town  of  Lodi  was  formed  in  1826.  While  the 
church  was  called  the  "First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Ovid,"  it  is  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  later  organization  in  Ovid  village  in  1803, 
which  was  organized  by  Rev.  Jedediah  Chapman.  The  1800  organiza- 
tion, changed  in  denominational  name,  and,  later,  in  location,  is  to- 
day the  "Reformed  Church  of  Lodi."  During  Lindsay's  pastorate 
the  first  building  was  erected,  but  after  his  going  there  was  no  other 
Presbyterian  minister,  the  church  becoming  Dutch  Reformed  in  180$: 
In  the  interim  services  were,  however,  occasionally  held,  among  the 
preachers  being  Revs.  John  Stuart,  Lewis  Williams,  M.  Misner  (Bapt.) 
and  Rev.  Wm.  Clark.  These  men  also  preached  in  the  churches  of 
Ovid  village,  Lodi,  and  Hector.  The  1803  organization  erected  a 
primitive  log  church  in  1804  on  ground  donated  by  Judge  Silas 
Halsey  who   had   come   into   the   country   from    Long    Island   in    1792. 

63 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

It  stood  with  its  gable  end  toward  the  road,  the  entrance  from  the 
south,  and  the  pulpit  in  the  north.  The  building  was  never  com- 
pleted, yet  it  served  for  twenty-five  years.  It  was  organized  in  Hal- 
sey's  barn  which  served  as  the  house  of  worship  until  the  hewn-log 
church  was  built.  The  ministers  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
1800  organization  (which  worshipped  for  several  years  in  the  court 
house)  also  served  this  church,  which  was  made  up  largely  of  per- 
sons at  variance  with  the  other  church.  From  1804  to  1806  Rev. 
John  Stuart  supplied  the  pulpit,  and  in  1828  when  the  Reformed  Dutch 
church  of  Lodi  village  was  erected. 

In  the  Presbyterian  record  book  (1800  church)  under  date  of 
February  27,  1809  is  a  record  of  the  election  of  elders  and  deacons  in 
the  new  "Protestant  Reformed  Low  Dutch  Church  of  Ovid."  Stephen 
Voorhees,  Tunis  Covert,  John  Groenendike  and  Joshua  Covert  were 
made  elders,  and  James  Vanliew,  Nicholas  Huff,  Daniel  Bassett,  and 
Peter  Rappleye  were  made  deacons.  This  consistory  was  installed 
by  Rev.  Abraham  Brokaw  (cf  Glen),  who  was  installed  pastor  of  the 
church  in  1809  by  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  of  Mayfield  (Montgomery 
county).     Originally  Lodi  belonged  to  Montgomery,  then  to  Cayuga, 


then  to  Geneva,  and  came  back  into  the  fold  of  the  Montgomery 
Classis  a  century  after  its  organization.  Under  Brokaw's  ministry  the 
church  grew  until  in  1822  it  numbered  some  two  hundred  members. 
This  was  the  year  that  the  "Wyckofite"  or  "True  Reformed  Church" 
(cf)  was  organized  and  Brokaw  was  one  of  the  malcontents  who 
joined  the  secession  movement.  As  a  result,  locally,  a  majority  of 
the  consistory,  but  a  minority  of  the  membership,  went  with  their 
minister  (already  suspended  by  the  Classis)  and  organized  another 
church  which  he  served  until  1838  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Rev. 
Archibald  McNeil  who  continued  in  the  field  until  1865,  after  which 
time  there  was  occasional  preaching  until  1873  when  it  ceased  al- 
together and  the  building  erected  by  the  secessionists  was  taken  down 
in  1876.  Rev.  Brokaw  died  July  17,  1846,  and  is  buried  in  the  cemetery 
attached  to  the  old  church  in  which  he  ministered.  He  was  eighty- 
six  years  old.  On  his  grave  stone  is  the  data — "Born  in  Somersett 
county,  N.  J.,  April  23,  1760.  Ordained  in  the  Reformed  Dutch  church 
in   1798.     Seceeded  in   1822." 


64 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

After  the  secession  the  new  consistory  elected  were,  John  Kelly, 
John  I.  Sebring,  Falkord  Sebring,  and  Ruloph  Voorhees,  elders,  and 
Cornelius  Wyckofl,  Stephen  C.  McCoy,  Joseph  W.  Smith,  and  Joseph 
Stull,  deacons.  These  were  installed  by  Rev.  Jacob  R.  H.  Hasbrouck 
(cf  Mapletown).  The  litigation  caused  by  this  division  was  at  last 
settled  in  favor  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church  but  it  cost  the  total 
value  of  the  property  to  defend  the  title.  During  these  days  of 
trouble  the  congregation  was  frequently  preached  to  by  missionaries 
of  the  Reformed  church,  among  them  being,  Rev.  Sam.  Van  Vechten, 
John  Van  Derveer,  Ferdinand  Van  Derveer,  Johathan  F.  Morris,  and 
John  F.  Schermerhorn.  Having  lost  their  church  property,  they  met 
in  various  places,  at  times  in  the  homes,  again  in  wood  sheds  or 
barns.  But  amid  all  this  distress  the  people  of  the  Dutch  church  were 
loyal  and  kept  to  the  faith.  The  next  pastor  was  Rev.  Abraham 
Messier  (1825-1828)  during  whose  ministry  a  new  church  was  erected. 
In  December,  1824,  the  following  committee  was  appointed  to  super- 
intend the  building  of  a  new  church:  John  P.  Nevius,  J.  H.  Halsey, 
Tunis  Covert,  Henry  Montgomery,  and  John  De  Motts.  The  church 
was  erected  at  Lodi  village  (De  Mott's  Corners).  A  subscription 
paper  extant  is  nine  feet  long  and  holds  the  names  of  one  hundred 
and  eighty-one  subscribers  who  gave  $3,520. 

Rev.  Messier  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church  in  June,  1825, 
the  service  being  conducted  by  Rev.  David  R.  De  Fraest  of  Cato  (cf). 
The  church  was  dedicated  November  9,  1826.  On  July  24,  1828,  Mr. 
Messier  resigned  to  enter  a  missionary  work  in  New  York  City.  Two 
pastorates  followed,  in  Pompton  Plains  and  at  the  1st  Raritan  (N.  J.) 
in  which  latter  he  died,  at  the  close  of  a  half  century  pastorate  on 
June  12,  1882.  Messier  was  a  prolific  writer,  a  trustee  of  Rutgers, 
and  President  General  Synod  in  1847.  The  next  pastor  at  Lodi  was 
Rev.  Asa  Bennett  (1828-1838).  Later  he  was  pastor  at  Constantine, 
Mich.  (1843-1845),  and  died  in  1858.  It  was  while  Bennett  was  pastor 
that  the  Farmerville  church  was  organized  (1830),  the  child  of  the 
Lodi  church.  A  house  was  also  bought  at  this  time  for  the  minister 
to  dwell  in,  and  was  so  used  until  the  coming  of  Rev.  Van  Neste 
when  another  parsonage  was  obtained.  During  Bennett's  ministry 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  members  were  received. 

Rev.  John  A.  Liddell  succeeded  Bennett  (1838-1848),  during 
whose  ministry  a  hundred  and  twenty-one  new  members  were  re- 
ceived. Mr.  Liddell  was  a  Glasgow  graduate,  an  attractive  and  able 
preacher.  He  served  the  church  at  Cicero  for  a  year  after  leaving 
this  field,  and  died  in  1850.  After  a  year  Rev.  Garret  J.  Garretson  was 
installed  in  September,  1649.  Rev.  Gustav  Abeel,  a  Rutgers  trustee 
for  forty  years,  then  in  the  Geneva  church,  preached  the  sermon,  as 
he  did  also  for  Mr.  Liddell  eleven  years  previously.  Mr.  Garretson 
remained  three  years  (1849-1852),  and  died  within  a  couple  of  months 
after  the  relationship  was  dissolved.  After  an  interim  of  a  year, 
Rev.  Geo.  J.  Van  Neste  was  installed  in  November,  1854.  Van  Neste 
was  connected  with  the  celebrated  family  of  that  name  in  the  Dutch 
Reformed  church.  He  remained  until  November,  1865.  During  this 
pastorate  the  church  numbered  two  hundred  twenty-three  members, 
its  largest  roll.  One  hundred  and  thirty-four  were  received  while 
he  was  pastor.  After  several  pastorates  he  took  up  the  work  at  St. 
Johnsville  (cf),  and  later  was  pastor  at  Flatbush,  and  Pottersville, 
N.  J.  at  the  latter  place  dying  in  1898.     Rev.  John  Addison  Van  Doren 

65 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

was  next  called,  and  accepted  (New  Years,  1866),  but  a  serious  ill- 
ness prevented  his  being  installed.  He  remained  here  but  six  months. 
In  1866  he  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  Annandale,  N.  J.  church,  and 
remained  in  that  field  until  1873,  when  he  retired  from  the  active 
pastorate;  Rev.  Isaac  H.  Collier  from  Nassau,  N.  Y.  was  in- 
stalled by  Geneva  Classis  January  29,  1867,  and  remained  until  Sep- 
tember 25,  1869.  Forty-five  were  added  during  this  ministry.  Leaving 
Lodi  Mr.  Collier  had  pastorates  at  Saratoga  and  Montville,  N.  J. 
when  he  entered  the  Presbyterian  ministry;  and  while  supplying  the 
Oakfield,  N.  Y.  church  died,  February  19,  1881.  For  more  than  a 
year  following  the  close  of  the  Collier  pastorate  the  pulpit  was  sup- 
plied by  Rev.  Alexander  McMann,  who  had  been  in  the  Ithaca  Dutch 
church  for  seven  years  (1831-1837),  and  had  gone  into  the  Presby- 
terian body  in  1862.  He  died  in  1893.  The  next  settled  pastor  was 
Rev.  H.  P.  McAdam,  who  delivered  an  interesting  address  at 
the  Centennial.  Mr.  McAdam  began  his  work  about  New  Year's, 
1871.  In  the  Autumn  of  1871  repairs  upon  the  church  were 
begun  under  the  committee,  S.  S.  Gulick,  Peter  Lott,  P.  V.  W.  Bodine, 
Voorhees  Minor,  and  Covert  Osgood.  The  expense  incurred  was 
$6,500.  Six  months  later,  July  14,  1872,  the  church  was  burned.  Two 
hundred  of  the  members  and  friends  of  the  congregation  at  once  sub- 
scribed toward  a  new  church  and  the  congregation  began  to  build 
under  the  direction  of  the  former  committee  of  repairs,  and  $20,000 
was  spent,  the  new  church  being  dedicated  July  15,  1873,  Rev.  Wm. 
W.  Brush  of  Geneva  preaching  the  sermon.  Rev.  McAdam  remained 
thro  a  part  of  1884  when  he  went  to  the  Wolcott  Presbyterian  church 
of  Utica,  later  pastor  of  the  Worthington  (O.)  Presbyterian  church, 
and  has  been  living  retired  at  Saugerties  since  1905.  The  pres- 
ent parsonage  was  built  in  this  pastorate.  His  successor  at 
Lodi  was  Rev.  Chester  P.  Murray  (1884-1886),  a  Presbyterian  min- 
ister who  reentered  the  work  of  that  church  and  is  now  living  in 
Cleveland,  O. 

Rev.  William  H.  Ballagh  succeeded  Murray,  remaining  thro  1888. 
Mr.  Ballagh  died  at  Palmyra,  N.  Y.  in  1892.  The  next  pastor  was 
Rev.  Charles  F.  Porter  (1888-1904),  an  Auburn  graduate  who  came 
from  the  Alden  Presbyterian  church  to  a  sixteen  year  pastorate  at 
Lodi.  For  several  years  now  Mr.  Porter  has  been  connected  with 
the  New  York  State  Library  at  Albany.  Rev.  Frederick  Perkins  of 
Bainbridge  (Ga.)  took  up  the  work  in  1905  and  remained  thro  1909, 
going  next  to  St.  Johnsville  where  he  is  now  pastor.  Succeeding 
him  was  Rev.  Seth  Cook  who  was  installed  in  1909  and  dismissed 
in  the  Fall  of  1914,  going  to  the  Dryden,  N.  Y.  Presbyterian  church. 
Rev.  E.  J.  Meeker,  who  had  served  the  churches  of  Mohawk  and  Glen, 
next  took  up  the  work  in  December,  1914,  and  is  the  present  pastor.  The 
Reformed  church  of  Lodi  has  sent  many  men  into  the  ministry,  evi- 
dencing the  sort  of  work  that  has  been  accomplished  there  thro  the 
years.  Among  these  have  been  Revs.  Elbert  Nevius,  Arad  Sebring, 
John  Minor,  James  Wyckoff,  William  Cornell,  Minor  Swick,  G. 
DeWitt  Bodine,  John  V.  N.  Schenck,  Elbert  Sebring,  Charles  Wilson, 
and  John  Van  Neste.  A  son  of  Rev.  Isaac  Collier,  William  M.,  after 
the  Spanish-American  war  became  the  American  Ambassador  to 
Spain. 


66 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

MANHEIM  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Manheim  is  very  nearly  the 
central  point  of  New  York 
state  and  is  five  miles  east  of 
Little  Falls.  It  has  been  an 
immemorial  tradition  in  the 
community  that  the  town  was 
so  called  by  Dr.  Wm.  Petry 
out  of  his  personal  associa- 
tions in  a  town  of  the  same 
name  in  Baden,  Germany. 
Manheim  was  set  off  as  a  town 
from  Palatine  on  March  3, 
1797,  and  on  April  7,  1817,  it 
was  annexed  to  Herkimer 
county.  Originally  Sir  Wm. 
Johnson  owned  all  the  land 
hereabout,  the  same  having  been  granted  to  him  a  few  years  before 
his  death  by  King  George,  some  forty  thousand  acres  in  all,  called  the 
Royal  Grant.  The  oldest  patent  of  land  in  the  town  was  given  to  Rev. 
Petrus  Van  Driesen  who  for  a  quarter-century  was  in  the  old  First 
Dutch  church  of  Albany.  This  grant  was  made  in  1737  and  contained 
twenty-five  hundred  acres.  With  him  was  joined  Rev.  John  Jacob 
Ehle,  and  both  of  these  men  conducted  a  mission  among  the  Indians, 
Ehle  keeping  at  the  work  at  what  is  now  called  Fort  Ehle  (still  stand- 
ing), for  upwards  of  half  a  century,  or  until  his  death,  about  1780. 
Originally  the  town  of  Manheim  was  in  what  was  known  as  the  Stone 
Arabia  district,  created  in  1772,  but  in  the  following  year  the  same 
was  changed  to  Palatine  district.  In  March,  1778,  the  Indians  and 
Tories  invaded  the  settlement  and  caused  general  devastation,  some 
scalps  were  taken  besides  quite  a  number  of  prisoners.  Among  the 
families  who  suffered  were  those  of  Cobus  Mabee,  Conrad,  Joseph, 
Abram  and  Jacob  Klock,  Mabus  Forbush,  Robhold  Ough,  Adam  and 
Rudolph  Furrie,  Henry  Shafer,  John  and  Michael  Keyser,  Calvin 
Barnes.  Between  1786  and  1796  the  supervisors  of  the  town  were: 
John  Frey,  Christian  Nellis,  Jacob  Eaker,  Frederick  Getman,  Samuel 
Gray,  and  Jacob  Snell.  Judging  from  the  votes  cast  for  Governor 
in  1786  there  were  a  thousand  population  in  the  town  then,  while  in 
1796  there  were  over  six  hundred  electors,  indicating  a  population 
of  thirty-five   hundred. 

With  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Manheim  in  1770  the  people 
who  were  mostly  German,  soon  formed  the  first  church  organization, 
and  as  they  had  to  depend  on  the  Stone  Arabia  Dutch  Reformed 
church  for  preaching,  naturally  the  organization  followed  that  de- 
nomination. Among  the  influential  men  of  that  day  were  Jacob  Mar- 
kell  (later  a  congressman),  Michael  Myers,  Andrew  Finck,  Dr.  Wm. 
Petry,  John  M.  Petry,  and  others.  Most  of  the  inhabitants  were 
unprogressive  and  uneducated.  They  did  not  keep  up  either  their 
German  language  or  adopt  the  English,  but  used  what  was  called 
a  Mohawk  Dutch.  But  with  the  coming  of  the  New  England  settlers, 
who  were  better  educated  and  more  enterprising,  and  with  the  English 
preaching  and  English  teaching  in  the  schools,  the  community  as- 
sumed a  higher  condition  in  morals  and  education.     Sometime  before 


i;: 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

the  Revolution  there  were  four  of  the  Snell  brothers,  Jacob,  Joseph, 
Peter,  and  Suffrenus,  who  gave  seven  acres  of  land  for  the  church 
and  twelve  acres  for  the  school.  So  many  Snells  lived  in  the  vicinity 
that  the  place  was  popularly  known,  and  is  in  a  measure  to  this  day, 
as  "Snell's  Bush."  The  first  church  built  was  burned  sometime  during 
the  Revolution.  The  second  church,  probably  erected  soon  after  the 
war,  served  the  congregation  until  1850,  when  it  was  taken  down, 
part  of  its  timber  used  in  the  construction  of  the  new  edifice.  On 
January  8,  1850,  at  a  meeting  of  the  congregation  it  was  voted  to 
build  a  new  "St.  Paul's  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church"  to  be 
sixty  by  forty  feet,  and  the  following  committee  was  appointed  to 
build  it:  John  Markel,  Peter  P.  Snell,  and  Jacob  Yoran.  The  con- 
sistory at  this  time  consisted  of  elders,  Peter  A.  Timmerman  and 
Jacob  Yoran;  deacons,  John  Garlock  and  Levi  Timerman.  The  "slips" 
(pews)  were  sold  on  February  3,  1851,  for  $4,464,  and  among  the 
purchasers  were  eighteen  Snells  and  ten  Timermans.  Peter  P.  Snell's 
family  was  so  large  that  he  bought  two  pews  for  $221,  while  Adam 
A.  Feeter  paid  $141  for  a  single  pew,  and  Jehoram  Snell  $136  for  a 
pew. 

All  but  half  an  acre  of  the  nineteen  acres  given  by  the  Snells 
was  finally  deeded  to  the  church,  an  act  of  the  legislature  being 
necessary  to  consummate  the  deal  and  establish  the  title.  In  1801 
the  Rev.  Caleb  Alexander  who  was  travelling  thro  the  country  wrote, 
"between  Fairfield  and  Little  Falls  is  a  Dutch  settlement  called  Man- 
heim — rich  farms,  a  meeting  house  and  a  minister.  The  church  was 
at  first  called  the  Reformed  Calvanist  church,  and  was  incorporated 
in  1792.  Originally  it  was  a  German  Reformed  church,  and  is  called 
"St.  Paul's"  in  the  incorporation  article.  It  united  with  the  Mont- 
gomery Classis  September  27,  1822.  Consistory  minutes  which  are 
extant  begin  in  1850,  all  previous  ones  seeming  to  be  lost.  The  mem- 
bership roll  begins  in  1860  and  the  marriage  register  in  1872.  An 
1839  subscription  list  for  a  coffin  cloth  contains  the  names  of  Jacob 
I.,  Joshua,  Adam  P.,  Simeon,  Peter  P.,  Peter,  Frederick  F.,  and 
George  P.  Snell,  Adam  H.,  David,  Levy  and  Samuel  Timermanf 
Benjamin  and  Nicholas  Petrie,  John  and  Jacob  Yoran,  John  and 
Hiram  Gerlock,  Adam  Feeter,  John  Markell,  Jonas  Elwood,  Joseph 
Casler,  Henry  Dockey,  John  Moyer,  Henry  Young,  Daniel  Getman, 
Isaac  Smith,  and  Uriel  Van  Valkenburg.  The  first  pastor  at  Manheim 
was  the  Rev.  John  H.  Dysslin  of  St.  Johnsville  Reformed  church  (cf), 
who  began  preaching  here  in  1770  and  supplied  the  pulpit  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  centry.  Dysslin  was  a  scion  of  Swiss  nobility,  coming 
to  America  to  seek  his  fortune,  shipwrecked  on  the  high  seas,  and 
vowing  to  God  while  tossed  about  on  the  wreckage  that  if  He  would 
spare  his  life  it  should  be  devoted  to  God's  service.  He  was  rescued^ 
brot  to  New  York,  returned  to  Switzerland  for  education,  then  re- 
turned and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in  the  Reformed  ministry  (cf 
St.  Johnsville). 

In  1820  Rev.  Isaac  Ferris  (Chancellor  of  New  York  University^ 
1852-1873,  dec.)  was  appointed  by  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions  to 
labor  in  the  Classis  of  Montgomery.  He  spent  considerable  time  at 
Danube,  Manheim,  Oppenheim  and  Herkimer.  He  reports  that  Man- 
heim had  no  ecclesiastical  connection  at  the  time  with  the  Classis. 
The  Fonda  records  give  the  names  of  the  men  elected  July  3,  1816, 
for  consistorymen,  elders,  Adam  H.  Timmerman,  Lawrence  Timmer- 

68 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

man,  and  John  Rasbach,  and  deacons,  Suffrenus  Snell,  Peter  P.  Snell, 
and  Adam  Kilts.  These  were  ordained  by  Rev.  Daniel  De  Voe,  who  was 
called  to  this  church  and  Oppenheim  in  1816.  He  came  from  Middle- 
burgh.  Following  him  came  Rev.  Stephen  Z.  Goetschius  who  after 
a  couple  of  years  work  seceded  from  the  denomination  and  joined 
the  "Wyckofites,"  and  was  suspended  by  the  Montgomery  Classis. 
Later  (1828)  he  reentered  the  church  and  served  Canastota  as  a  sup- 
ply for  two  years  (1836-1837)  and  then  went  west.  Following  Goet- 
schius in  the  pastorate  was  Rev.  Isaac  S.  Ketchum  (1822-1830),  who 
was  ordained  here,  and  spent  about  the  same  time  in  the  Stone  Arabia 
pastorate  (cf).  Among  the  families  in  the  church  at  the  time  shown 
by  an  old  list  were  those  of  Ayres,  Altenburgh,  Baum,  Beardsley, 
Bloodough,  Cook,  Couch,  Dockstader,  Feeter,  Fink,  Garlock,  Get- 
man,  House,  Hart,  Ingham,  Johnson,  Klock,  Kilts,  Loucks,  Lipe, 
Markel,  Nestle,  Owens,  Powell,  Petree,  Pettibone,  Richtmyre,  Ras- 
bach, Snell,  Shults,  Shaver,  Scott,  Timmerman,  Turney,  Tacka, 
Vedder,  Van  Allen,  Van  Valkenburgh,  Woolaver,  Walrath,  and  Yoran. 
Rev.  John  Manley  (1831-1833)  was  the  next  pastor;  he  died  in 
1871.  Rev.  Jas.  Murphy  who  was  pastor  at  St.  Johnsville  (cf)  supplied 
from  1834  thro  1836.  Rev.  Paul  Weidman  came  to  Manheim  from  a 
seventeen  year  pastorate  at  Schoharie,  and  remained  here  from  1837 
almost  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1852.  This  is  what  Corwin's 
Manual  of  the  Reformed  church  says,  but  Rev.  John  DuBois  began 
his  work  in  the  ministry  here  in  1843,  remaining  three  years,  and  go- 
ing next  to  Cicero  (cf).  And  after  this  Rev.  Abraham  H.  Myers 
came  in  1848  and  staid  here  thro  February,  1852.  He  began  his  work 
in  the  Montgomery  Classis  at  St.  Johnsville  (cf).  After  this  the  Rev. 
Paul  Weidman  returned  for  an  eight  year  pastorate  (1852-1860),  re- 
linquishing the  active  ministry  of  forty  years  in  October,  1860.  Rev. 
Rufus  M.  Stanbrough  on  his  graduation  from  New  Brunswick,  came 
to  field  in  the  spring  of  1861  and  was  ordained  and  installed  over  the 
Manheim  church  in  October  that  year,  serving  the  church  at  Indian 
Castle  also,  on  the  south  side  of  the  river.  He  also  supplied  the 
Stone  Arabia  church  (cf)  for  a  while.  He  remained  until  June,  1876. 
Later  he  was  six  years  in  the  Columbia  church.  He  died  in  1905. 
Rev.  Algernon  Matthews,  who  succeeded  Stanbrough  in  the  Manheim 
church  in  November  1876,  was  born  on  the  Isle  of  Geurnsey  and 
educated  in  Germany,  tho  graduating  at  New  Brunswick  in  1875.  He 
remained  with  this  church  thro  1878,  and  then  entered  the  missionary 
work  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Canada. 

During  the  year  1880  from  November  thro  October,  1882,  the  pulpit 
was  supplied  by  the  Rev.  John  Minor  who  had  previously  been  pastor 
of  the  first  Amsterdam  church  (cf).  For  several  years  the  pulpit  was 
supplied  by  the  St.  Johnsville  and  other  nearby  pastors.  In  the 
records  are  the  names  of  Rev.  David  E.  Van  Giesen,  George  W.  Fur- 
beck  and  Rev.  Philip  Furbeck  (cf  St.  Johnsville).  In  1892  David  T. 
Harris  was  received  from  the  Methodist  Conference  and  was  ordained 
and  installed  over  the  church  which  he  served  for  two  years.  He  is 
now  pastor  of  the  West  Copake  church.  Rev.  Fred  W.  Ruhl  was 
next  called,  coming  to  the  church  from  Cicero,  and  staid  four  years 
(1892-1895).  Again  the  church  began  an  itinerant  supply.  Rev.  Louis 
H.  Baehler's  pastorate  began  in  1898  and  continued  thro  a  part,  of 
1900.  Mr.  Baehler  entered  the  Presbyterian  church,  retiring  from 
the  active  work  of  the  ministry  in  1912,  and  spent  the  rest  of  his  life 

69 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

at  Schenectady,  where  he  died  in  1914.  A  brother  of  Rev.  Baehler, 
Rev.  P.  G.  M.  Baehler,  is  in  the  Williamson,  N.  Y.  Reformed  church, 
while  his  father,  Rev.  P.  B.  Baehler  served  several  Holland  churches 
in  New  York,  and  the  grandfather,  was  a  preacher  at  Zwolle,  Holland. 
This  was  the  last  settled  pastorate  at  Manheim,  whose  pulpit  has 
been  since  supplied,  mostly  in  the  summer  time,  by  seminary  students, 
neighboring  pastors,  and  the  classical  missionary.  Among  the  sup- 
plies of  the  pulpit  may  be  mentioned  Rev.  C.  V.  Bedford  (1896),  now 
of  Hagaman,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  John  A.  Thomson  (1892),  now  of  Middle- 
bush,  N.  J.;  Benjamin  F.  White  (1902),  now  of  Germantown,  N.  Y.; 
Rev.  Burton  J.  Hotaling  (1904),  now  of  Albany,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  Henry  D. 
Cook  (1905),  now  of  Paramus,  N.  Y.;  Rev.  Daniel  G.  Verwey  (1906), 
now  of  Walkill,  N.  Y.,  during  whose  summer  services  the  church  was 
repaired  and  renovated;  and  Rev.  George  S.  Bolsterle  (1907),  now  of 
N.  Y.  City.  During  1908  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  a  young 
Christian  worker,  Henry  Mcllravy,  and  in  1909  the  Rev.  R.  J.  Van 
Deusen,  a  Lutheran  pastor,  preached  here  in  conjunction  with  Ing- 
hams  Mills.  During  the  summers  of  1910  and  1911  the  work  was 
done  by  the  student,  Andrew  Van  Vranken  Raymond,  Jr.,  who  is  in 
the  Presbyterian  church  at  South  Wales,  N.  Y.  During  the  summer 
of  1912  the  Rev.  Arthur  J.  Wyman  of  the  Little  Falls  Presbyterian 
church  supplied,  and  in  1913  the  classical  missionary  of  Montgomery, 
Rev.  W.  N.  P.  Dailey,  preached  occassionally  thro  the  year.  Rev. 
Herbert  D.  Leland,  now  of  Utica,  supplied  one  summer,  and  Rev. 
Edward  B.  Irish  of  Fultonville,  spent  his  1914  vacation  on  the  field 
ministering  to  its  wants.  The  church  cemetery  has  recently  been 
cleared  and  beautified  and  may  be  seen  for  many  miles,  on  the  high 
land  surrounding  the  church.  The  principal  burials  are  the  Snells, 
Timmermans,  Yourans,  Feeters,  Garlocks  and  Markells.  The  oldest 
stone  in  the  yard  marks  the  burial  spot  of  Peter  Snell  who  was  born 
in  1731  and  died  in  1804.  Other  burial  spots  not  far  distant,  as  the 
one  on  the  Beardsley  farm  where  many  of  the  Kilts  family  are  in- 
terred, and  another  surrounding  the  Lutheran  ("Yellow")  church, 
where  many  of  the  original  settlers  were  buried,  as  the  Keysers, 
Windeckers,  Bellingers,  Petries  et  al.  were  laid  to  rest,  are  interesting 
spots  for  the  student  of  the  early  history  of  the  town  of  Manheim 
and  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk. 


70 


i 

I      1 

i  ■!    i 

I       1 

HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

MAPLETOWN  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Another  name  for  the 
place  is  "Middletown,"  and  in 
the  earlier  records  the  church 
is  often  given  this  name.  The 
sugar  maples  abounding  in 
the  vicinity  naturally  suggest 
the  origin  of  the  name  of  the 
place.  Jacob  Ehle  and  Joseph 
Knox  were  settlers  here  in 
1791.  Mr.  Knox  died  in 
1809,  Mr.  Ehle  in  1850. 
Services  were  held  as 
early  as  1793,  but  the  or- 
ganization was  not  perfected 
until  September  12,  1801,  the 
meeting  for  the  same  being 
held  at  the  tavern  of  Elisha 
Taylor  and  presided  over  by 
Rev.  Isaac  Labagh,  who  at 
the  time  was  preaching  in 
the  churches  of  "Sand  Hill"  (Canajoharie),  Stone  Arabia,  and 
Sharon.  Jacob  Ehle  is  mentioned  in  the  1801  Fonda  records  as 
a  trustee.  A  full  consistory  was  chosen  and  services  were  continued 
in  the  homes  of  the  members  until  1805,  when  the  first  house  of 
worship  was  erected.  Jacob  Ehle,  Ebenezer  Hibbard,  Jacob  S. 
Keller,  Daniel  Van  Hoesen  and  Ebenezer  Lathrop  were  the  first  con- 
sistory. The  first  pastor  was  Rev.  John  Calvin  Toll  (Tol),  who  had 
studied  under  Livingston,  and  on  his  ordination  in  October,  1803, 
assumed  charge  of  this  church,  preaching  also  at  Bowman's  Kill 
(Buel)  and  Westerlo  (Sprakers).  Mapletown  renewed  its  call  No- 
vember 3,  1807  (approved  in  Classis  May  31,  1808),  and  again  renewed 
it  December  20,  1817.  The  1807  call  is  signed  by  Peter  Clement,  Elijah 
Taylor,  Ebenezer  Hebberd  and  John  R.  Van  Evera,  elders,  and  Luke 
Wesseley,  James  DSy,  Peter  Deremer  and  Garett  Van  Valkenburg, 
deacons.  The  1817  renewal  is  signed  by  Peter  Deremer,  David 
Huguarin,  L.  Van  Dervolgen  and  James  Dey,  elders,  and  Peter  Clute, 
Rudolphus  Dingman,  John  Davis  and  William  Smith,  deacons.  After 
a  pastorate  of  some  eighteen  years  Mr.  Toll  left  the  denomination 
and  joined  the  "True  Reformed  Church"  ("Wyckoflte"),  and  or- 
ganized a  church  of  this  name  at  both  Westerlo  and  Aliddletown,  and 
spent  a  second  eighteen  years  in  these  two  fields.  He  died  at  Glen- 
ville  in  1848.  During  his  pastorate  at  Mapletown  (1803-1821)  he 
married  two  hundred  couples  and  baptised  six  hundred  and  fifty  in- 
fants and  received  one  hundred  and  seventy  members  into  the  church. 
Rev.  Toll  was  born  in  1780  and  died  in  Glenville  in  1849  at  the  old 
Toll  homestead.  His  father  was  Adj.  Carl  H.  Toll  of  the  14th  Regt. 
N.  Y.  Militia.  Rev.  Toll  was  chaplain  in  Lieut.  Col.  John  Roof's 
regiment  of  Montgomery  county.  His  wife  was  Annatje,  daughter 
of  Barent  Mynderse  of  Guilderland  (a  Lieut.  Col.  in  the  war  of  1812), 
whom  he  married  in  1802.  During  1820  and  1824  Rev.  Samuel  Van 
Vechten  occassionally  preached  here.  After  an  interim  of  a  few 
years,    with    a    Rev.    Alonzo    Welton    supplying    one    of    them,    Rev. 


71 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Douw  Van  Olinda,  a  native  of  Charleston,  became  the  pastor  (1827). 
Rev.  Buckelew,  pastor  at  Mapletown  (1851-1854)  in  an  article  in  the 
"Christian  Intelligencer"  says  that  Van  Olinda  was  pastor  in  1824, 
but  this  can  hardly  be  so,  since  on  graduation  from  New  Brunswick 
in  the  class  of  1824  Van  Olinda  spent  a  year  in  missionary  work  at 
Johnstown,  Mayfield  and  Union,  and  in  1825-1827  he  was  the  pastor 
at  Palatine  (St.  Johnsville).  Mr.  Van  Olinda's  pastorate  closed  in 
December,  1831.  After  serving  the  church  at  New  Paltz  (1832-1842), 
he  returned  to  the  Classis  (1844)  and  was  pastor  at  Caughnawaga 
until  the  time  of  his  death  in  1858.  In  1831  the  custom  of  electing 
deacons  was  discontinued  and  trustees  were  elected.  In  1883  the 
Board  of  Trustees  was  disbanded  and  a  return  made  to  the  election 
of  deacons. 

Rev.  Jacob  W.  Hangen  came  next  to  the  church  from  Columbia 
(cf)  and  was  installed  March  14,  1832,  and  remained  four  years. 
He  served  Currytown  while  pastor  here.  Consistorial  meetings  were 
held  monthly  and  a  fine  of  fifty  cents  was  imposed  on  the  members 
who  were  either  absent  or  tardy  one  hour.  During  Hangen's  pas- 
torate the  name  of  the  church  was  changed  from  "Middletown"  to 
that  of  Mapletown.  Hangen  had  several  other  pastorates  in  the  Re- 
formed church,  then  entered  the  German  Reformed  church,  preaching 
in  Pennsylvania,  where  he  did  at  Trappe  in  1843.  A  brief  pastorate 
of  two  and  a  half  years  followed  by  Rev.  Harrison  Heermance,  who 
came  September  25,  1837.  After  several  years  in  the  active  work  of 
the  Presbyterian  ministry,  Heermance  became  an  army  chaplain.  He 
died  in  1883.  From  1842  thro  1848  there  were  no  consistorial  records 
kept.  Rev.  Thomas  Frazier  was  pastor  in  1840  thro  1843,  of  whom 
we  know  nothing  further  except  that  he  died  in  Montreal,  Canada,  in 
1884.  Jasper  Middlemas  succeeded  him  in  1844  and  acted  as  a  stated 
supply  thro  1846.  The  next  pastor  was  Rev.  John  H.  Carle  (1847- 
1851)  whose  ill  health  compelled  him  to  give  up  the  active  ministry. 
Rev.  William  D.  Buckelew  was  next  called  and  began  his  ministry 
in  this  church  in  1851,  and  spent  forty-two  years  in  the  pulpit,  his 
death  occurring  in  1893.  He  was  four  years  at  Mapletown.  During 
Buckelew's  ministry  a  new  church  was  built.  The  last  service  in  the 
old  church  was  held  Sunday,  May  30,  1852.  The  church  was  taken 
down  during  the  following  week.  The  corner  stone  of  the  new  church 
was  laid  July  8,  1852,  by  Rev.  J.  C.  Van  Liew  of  Stone  Arabia.  The 
church  was  finished  in  October,  1852.  Rev.  John  J.  Quick's  pastorate 
extended  over  seven  years  (185(3-1862).  He  also  preached  at  Curry- 
town, which  was  frequently  joined  with  this  church  in  pastoral  work. 
Rev.  Richard  M.  Whitbeck  succeeded  Quick,  was  ordained  and  in- 
stalled by  the  Montgomery  Classis  but  remained  only  two  years, 
1863  and  1864.  After  a  few  more  years  he  left  the  active  ministry 
to  enter  educational  work  and  lived  a  retired  life  for  many  years 
at  Hudson,  N.  Y. 

Rev  James  M.  Compton  was  next  .called  and  staid  four  years  or 
until  1868,  but  to  remain  in  the  Classis  for  twenty-five  years  at  Stone 
Arabia  and  Ephratah  (1868-1870),  Columbia  and  Henderson  (1870- 
1875),  Union  (1875-1876),  Sprakers  (1878-1882),  Mapletown  again  dur- 
ing 1882,  and,  finally,  Columbia  again  from  1888  to  the  time  of  his 
death  at  the  latter  place,  December  12,  1891.  Josiah  Markel  supplied 
the  Mapletown  pulpit  from  the  summer  of  1869  thro  the  summer  of 
1871.     His  death  occurred  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  in  1898.     He  had  not  been 

72 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

in  the  active  ministry  for  twenty-five  years.  Two  years  the  pulpit 
was  occasionally  supplied  by  different  men,  and  until  Rev.  George 
Sharpley  became  pastor  in  1874  who  resigned  in  1880.  He  was 
licensed  and  ordained  by  Montgomery  Classis.  A  son  of  this  pastor, 
Giles  H.  Sharpley,  after  studying  at  Rutgers  and  New  Brunswick 
(1888-1889)  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal  church,  graduating 
from  the  General  Theological  Seminary  in  1897.  In  1880  from  May 
to  December  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Dewey  Jones.  Rev. 
John  Minor  was  installed  in  1882  and  remained  thro  1884.  Later  Mr. 
Minor  supplied  several  Presbyterian  churches  and  died  November 
20,  1890,  while  supplying  the  Fort  Herkimer  church  (cf).  Rev.  Garret 
Wyckoff  succeeded  Mr.  Minor,  coming  to  the  church  in  1886  and 
staid  two  years,  to  be  followed  by  Rev.  Henry  H.  Sangree  (1888-1893). 
Mr.  Wyckoff  is  now  supplying  the  church  at  Flatbush,  N.  Y.  Mr. 
Sangree  entered  the  ministry  of  the  German  Reformed  church  and 
later  still  that  of  the  Presbyterian  and  is  now  in  Philadelphia,  Pa. 
The  last  installed  pastor  at  Mapletown  was  John  A.  Thomson  (1894- 
1902).  Since  leaving  this  charge  Mr.  Thomson  has  been  pastor  at 
Middlebush,  N.  J.  Following  Mr.  Thomson  Rev.  E.  M.  Forest  sup- 
plied for  a  year,  after  which  the  Rev.  Frank  R.  Shepherd  (Presb.) 
supplied  for  three  years  (July,  1903-March,  1906).  Beginning  Sep- 
tember 30,  1906,  Rev.  Sybrandt  Nelson  of  the  Buel  Presbyterian  church 
began  a  supply  which  continued  until  October  23,  1912.  During  the 
summer  of  1913,  Mr.  Charles  Stube,  a  New  Brunswick  Seminary 
graduate,  supplied  the  church.  The  present  supply,  Rev.  Elmer  E. 
Frederick,  has  had  charge  of  the  Buel  Presbyterian  church  and  of 
Mapletown   since   the   fall   of   1913. 


MOHAWK  REFORMED  CHURCH 


■  The  Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  church  at  Mohawk  was 
organized  in  1838  by  the  Classis, 
and  the  following  year  incor- 
porated. At  the  time  of  organiza- 
tion Christopher  Bellinger  and 
Samuel  Meeker  were  elders,  and 
Samuel  Bellinger  and  Henry 
Harke,  deacons.  The  lot  for  the 
church  was  given  by  Frederick 
Bellinger.  The  church  records 
were  lost  in  a  hotel  fire  during 
Mr.  Meeker's  pastorate.  The 
first  supply  of  the  church  was  the 
Rev.  James  Murphey,  who  at  the 
time  was  the  pastor  of  the  Her- 
kimer church  (cf).  Rev.  Jede- 
diah  L.  Stark  followed  in  1842 
and  died  in  1862  and  was  buried 
at  Utica,  N.  Y.  Corwin  says  that  Mr.  Stark  preached  at  German  Flatts, 
Mohawk,  and  Frankfort  at  the  same  time  thro  the  years  1843  and 
1844,  and  from  1844  thro  1846  he  preached  at  Mohawk  and  Frankfort, 
and  from  1846  thro  1852  he  was  the  pastor  at  Mohawk,  from  which 


73 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

place  he  went  in  1852  to  Fort  Herkimer  (German  Flatts)  and  con- 
tinued there  until  1857,  when  he  ceased  the  active  work  of  the  min- 
istry. Mr.  Stark  preached  for  several  years  at  Mohawk,  Frankfort  and 
Fort  Herkimer  on  every  Sunday,  covering  the  eleven  miles  with  horse 
and  wagon.  His  first  pastorate  of  twenty  years  was  at  West  Brattle- 
boro,  Vt.  (1820-1840).  Rev.  Elbert  Slingerland  came  to  Mohawk  in 
1865  and  after  a  couple  years  work  became  a  pastor  emeritus,  and 
died  in  1875  at  the  age  of  seventy-five.  This  was  his  second  pastorate, 
the  first  occuring  during  1855  and  1856.  He  also  preached  at  Haga- 
man  (cf)  and  Chittenango  in  this  Classis.  Rev.  John  W.  Hammond 
followed  Slingerland  in  1856  and  staid  thro  1859.  He  had  several 
other  pastorates  in  the  Dutch  church,  and  died  in  1876,  soon  after 
the  close  of  his  pastorate  at  Roxbury,  N  Y.  Rev.  Charles  D.  K. 
Nott  succeeded  Mr.  Hammond  in  1859  and  preached  for  five  years, 
when  he  entered  the  Presbyterian  church  ministry.  Then  came  the 
second  pastorate  of  Mr.  Slingerland,  of  which  we  have  spoken  above. 
Rev.  G.  D.  W.  Consaul  (later  pastor  at  Herkimer-cf)  supplied  the 
pulpit  at  Mohawk  during  1867-1869,  at  which  time  he  was  ordained  by 
the  Classis  of  Montgomery.  Rev.  Frederick  F.  Wilson  became  pastor 
in  1870,  coming  from  the  Scotia  church,  thro  a  part  of  1872.  After  a 
few  other  short  pastorates  he  became  inactive,  about  1890,  and  twenty 
years  later  died  at  Asbury  Park,  N.  J.,  in  1910. 

Rev.  Francis  M.  Bogardus  was  called  to  Mohawk  in  1872  and 
resigned  in  1876.  He  continued  in  the  active  pastorate  for  twenty 
years  more,  and  has  for  some  years  been  living  retired  at  Asbury 
Park,  N.  J.  Rev.  John  G.  Lansing  (son  of  Dr.  Julian  Lansing,  a 
missionary  at  Damascus)  was  born  in  Syria  at  Damascus  in  the  street 
called  "Straight."  He  was  licensed  and  ordained  by  the  Montgomery 
Classis  in  1887  and  installed  over  the  Mohawk  church,  which  pulpit 
he  occupied  for  three  years.  After  a  second  pastorate  of  five  years 
at  West  Troy  (1879-1884)  he  was  made  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  New 
Brunswick  Seminary,  which  chair  he  occupied  for  fifteen  years  when 
he  resigned  to  take  up  editorial  work  at  Denver,  Co.,  where  he 
died  in  1906.  He  was  the  author  of  several  volumes  on  Old  Testa- 
ment exegesis,  and  the  founder  in  the  Reformed  church  of  the 
Arabian  Mission.  Rev.  James  Edmondson  was  licensed  by  the  Mont- 
gomery Classis  in  1868;  the  next  record  of  him  is  as  supply  at  Cicero 
(1879-1881),  from  which  field  he  was  called  in  1881  to  the  Mohawk 
church  which  he  served  until  some  time  in  1886,  when  he  went  to 
Sedalia,  Mo.,  where  he  died.  In  1882  Rutgers  gave  him  the  degree 
of  Ph.  D.  Rev.  John  H.  Brandow  succeeded  to  the  pastorate  in 
1886  and  resigned  in  1888.  He  was  ordained  by  the  Montgomery 
Classis.  He  went  from  Mohawk  to  the  Oneonta  Presbyterian  church, 
from  which  field  he  came  back  into  the  Reformed  ministry  in  1895, 
and  settled  at  Schuylerville.  In  1905  he  was  called  to  Schoharie,  and 
was  there  until  1908  when  he  became  the  Albany  Synodical  Mission- 
ary which  position  he  still  fills,  with  residence  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  The 
next  pastor  was  Rev.  Albert  Dod  Minor  who  was  licensed  in  1879 
by  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  and  ordained  and  installed  over  the 
church  at  St.  Johnsville  (cf).  In  1888  Mr.  Minor  came  to  the  Mohawk 
field,  at  the  same  time,  and  for  a  few  years  following  his  resignation 
from  Mohawk  (1891)  supplying  the  pulpit  at  Fort  Herkimer.  -Mr. 
Minor  died  in  1910.  Following  Mr.  Minor  was  the  Rev.  Ira  Van 
Allen     (previously    pastor    at    Owasco),     who    was    installed    pastor 

74 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

in  1S92  and  remained  thro  1898,  to  be  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
Edward  J.  Meeker,  who  was  ordained  in  1899  by  the  Montgomery 
Classis  and  installed  over  this  church.  Mr.  Meeker  also  supplied 
Fort  Herkimer.  He  resigned  in  1903,  going  to  Highland  Park  church, 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  He  returned  to  the  Classis  in  1909  and  took 
up  the  work  at  Glen,  now  in  the  Lodi  church.  Rev.  Charles 
W.  Kinney  who  followed  had  already  had  a  pastorate  at 
St.  Johnsville  (1893-1899),  having  gone  from  that  field  (cf)  to  the 
Presbyterian  church  of  Hobart,  N.  Y.  In  1906  he  returned  to  the 
Classis  and  was  installed  over  the  Mohawk  church  (also  supplying 
Fort  Herkimer)  which  church  he  continued  to  serve  until  1911  when 
he  went  to  the  Schoharie  church.  Since  1913  he  has  been  in  the 
Schuylerville  Reformed  church.  The  present  pastor  of  the  church, 
Rev.  Oscar  E.  Beckes,  was  called  from  the  Manlius  Presbyterian 
church   in   1912. 


NAUMBURCH  REFORMED  CHURCH 


This  village  lies  a  mile  east 
of  Castorland,  a  station  sixty- 
five  miles  north  of  Utica  on 
the  Black  River  division  of  the 
New  York  Central  R.  R.  Be- 
hind Castorland  is  the  story  of 
an  attempt  to  found  in  the 
wilds  of  the  New  World  by  an 
exiled  nobility  and  clergy  of 
the  old  regime  in  France,  a 
secure  retreat  from  the  horrors  of  Revolution  in  the  Old.  In  August, 
1792,  a  French  company  bought  a  large  tract  in  the  Macomb  Purchase, 
on  both  sides  of  the  Black  river,  610,000  acres.  Later  two-thirds 
of  this  was  given  up.  Castorland  means  the  "land  of  beavers,"  the 
Iroquois  term  being  Couch-sach-ra-ge,  "Beaver  Hunting  Country."  A 
pamphlet  descriptive  of  the  place  was  published  in  Paris,  where  the 
details  of  the  settlement  were  most  elaborately  planned — an  im- 
practicable Utopia,  doomed  at  its  inception  to  failure,  tho  many  took 
shares.  The  founding  of  Castorland  is  a  story  well  worth  reading, 
tho  terribly  tragic  in  its  conclusions.  One  finds  its  counterparts  in  the 
Jacobite  settlement  at  Cape  Fear,  or  the  Huguenots  at  Port  Royal,  or 
Arcadie  in  Nova  Scotia,  or  New  Sweden  on  the  Delaware,  or  New  Am- 
sterdam on  the  Hudson.  Ancient  Castorland  lives  now  only  in  poetry 
and  history — a  story  of  highly  colored  but  unfulfilled  promise,  of 
bright  hopes  forever  deferred,  of  man's  titanic  but  fruitless  endeavor, 
of  woman's  tragic  tears. 

The  Reformed  church  is  situated  on  what  is  known  as  Macomb's 
Purchase,  who  owned  practically  the  land  of  the  whole  county.  The 
western  part  was  sold  to  New  York  City  capitalists  while  the  east- 
ern section  went  to  a  French  company  at  Paris  (cf  West  Leyden). 
In  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  a  French  nobleman  by  name  of 
James  Donatien  Le  Ray,  Count  de  Chaumont,  who  had  come  to  man- 
age the  land,  gave  to  the  Prussian  settlement  now  called  Naumburgh, 
sufficient  land  (about  an  acre)  for  school  and  cemetery  purposes,  and 
about  thirty  acres  for  the  church.     He  could  afford  to  be  thus  gener- 


75 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

ous  for  he  owned  348,205  acres  in  Franklin,  St.  Lawrence,  Lewis  and 
Jefferson  counties.  This  was  in  1852,  and  the  church,  which  had  been 
already  organized  in  1850,  was  a  Lutheran  body.  In  1855  the  Re- 
formed church,  by  request  of  the  Lutheran  Synod,  took  over  the  con- 
gregation and  Classis  organized  a  Reformed  church.  Naumburgh  is 
a  small  village  about  sixty-six  miles  north  of  Utica  in  Lewis  county 
on  the  Black  river,  while  the  church  is  about  a  mile  from  the  village. 
The  first  Reformed  minister  to  serve  the  church  was  Rev.  William 
Wolfe,  who  came  in  January,  1855.  There  were  eighteen  charter 
members.  As  long  as  New  Bremen  Reformed  church  was  in  ex- 
istence (cf)  the  pastors  at  Naumburgh  supplied  that  pulpit  also  (six 
miles  distant).  The  parsonage  was  built  during  Wolfe's  pastorate. 
He  remained  until  1860.  He  went  to  3d  Hackensack,  and  in  1866 
was  preaching  at  Plainfield,  N.  J.  Rev.  Carl  Becker  was  called  in 
1860  from  3d  Hackensack  and  was  the  pastor  for  nine  years.  In  the 
early  part  of  1870  Rev.  John  Boehrer  of  Damascus,  Pa.  became  the 
pastor,  remained  five  years,  during  which  time  extensive  repairs  were 
made  upon  the  church  building.  There  were  sixty-nine  members  at 
this  time,  and  a  Sunday  School  of  thirty-five.  Boehrer's  pastorate 
began  in  fine  spirit  but  its  close  ended  in  the  refusal  of  the  entire 
congregation  to  attend  the  services.  He  resigned  on  June  1,  1876. 
He  worked  for  the  American  Tract  Society  for  some  years  after  leav- 
ing Naumburgh,  and  spent  the  last  years  of  his  life  in  Buffalo,  where 
he  died  in  1913. 

Rev.  H.  W.  Warnshius  was  ordained  and  installed  over  the  church 
on  June  26,  1877.  In  a  brief  period  the  church  revived,  the  member- 
ship grew  to  nearly  a  hundred,  the  church  became  self-supporting, 
and  the  entire  religious  life  of  the  community  was  quickened.  This 
pastorate  came  to  a  close  in  April,  1889.  Warnshuis  later  entered  the 
Presbyterian  church  for  work  in  Dakota.  Rev.  Peter  A.  Moel- 
ling  came  to  the  church  in  the  latter  part  of  1880,  and  staid  until 
the  summer  of  1884.  He  was  succeeded  by  Henry  Unglaub  in  1885, 
who  remained  three  years.  During  the  years  1889  and  1890  the  pulpit 
was  occasionally  supplied  by  the  late  Rev.  J.  W.  Geyer  of  New  York 
and  Rev.  F.  E.  Schlieder  of  West  Leyden.  Rev.  Wm.  F.  Barny  of 
the  Seminary  at  Bloomfield  supplied  the  pulpit  during  the  summer 
of  1891  and  1892.  In  1893,  on  his  graduation  from  New  Brunswick, 
Barny  accepted  a  call  to  Naumburgh  and  was  ordained  by  Mont- 
gomery Classis  and  installed  over  the  church.  He  spent  four  years, 
the  last  of  the  settled  pastors,  resigning  September  13,  1896.  John 
Bombin  (now  of  Hackensack,  N.  J.)  a  New  Brunswick  student,  spent 
the  summer  of  1889  on  the  field  and  George  Schnucker  the 
summer  of  1897.  He  is  now  at  German  Valley,  111.  Rev. 
Theodore  F.  Hahn,  an  ordained  missionary  of  the  Presbyterian 
church,  spent  the  summer  of  1903  on  the  field.  For  the  past  fifteen 
years  services  have  been  held  occasionally,  conducted  by  the  Synodical 
and   Classical  missionaries,  and  others. 


76 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


OWASCO  REFORMED  CHURCH 


Cayuga  county,  in  which 
,  Owasco    is    situated,    was 

formed  in  1790  from  the 
Onondaga  military  tract, 
a  large  land  area,  pur- 
chased of  the  Indians,  and 
used  by  the  government 
for  paying  the  land  boun- 
ties given  the  soldiers  of 
the  Revolution.  Simeon 
De  Witt  (N.  Y.  State  Sur- 
veyor-General) laid  out 
this  tract,  giving  classic 
names  to  most  of  the  com- 
munities. Cammerhoff  in 
1750  wrote  the  name  of 
the  place,  "Achs'-go."  The 
first  settler  of  the  country 
was  Roswell  Franklin  (1789).  In  1792  Capt.  John  L.  Hardenburgh 
bought  six  hundred  acres  of  land  near  Owasco  Lake.  Col.  Harden- 
burgh settled  about  three  miles  from  the  foot  of  the  lake,  his  house 
being  about  where  the  Auburn  City  Hall  now  is.  Auburn  was  called 
"Hardenburgh's  Corners"  until  1805.  Here  near  Owasco  was  the 
settlement  of  the  Alleghans  who  occupied  the  land  for  several 
centuries  before  Columbus  came,  and  until  the  Cayugas  conquered 
them.  The  place  was  called  Osco  or  Wasgough  (Owasco).  The  cele- 
brated Indian  chief,  Logan,  was  born  here.  The  first  of  the  Harden- 
burghs  had  come  to  America  from  the  Netherlands  in  1640.  Sir  John 
Hardenburgh  was  knighted  by  Queen  Anne  for  gallantry  at  the  de- 
cisive battle  of  Blenheim.  Of  his  six  sons  (and  six  daughters)  Johanes 
(1706-1786)  lived  at  Rosendale,  N.  Y.,  and  was  a  Colonel  in  the  Ulster 
Co.  Militia  for  twenty  years,  a  Colonial  Assembly  member  (1743- 
1750),  and  also  of  the  first  Provincial  Congress  (1775).  The  old  Hard- 
enburgh house  is  still  standing  in  Ulster  county.  His  son,  Johannes, 
Jr.,  was  Colonel  of  the  4th  Ulster  Regt.  during  the  Revolution.  Jacob 
Rutsen  Hardenburgh,  a  brother,  .was  Queens  (now  Rutgers)  first 
college  president.  Leonardus  Hardenburgh,  son  of  Sir  John  Harden- 
burgh (bl714)  had  a  son,  John  L.,  who  was  a  Lieutenant  in  the 
7th  Co.  N.  Y.  (1776),  Adjutant  in  1789,  and  Captain  of  Levies  in 
1782.  Ten  years  later  he  came  into  this  country  where  he  died  April 
25,  1806.  The  first  settlers  in  1792  were  Benjamin  and  Samuel  DePuy 
and  Moses  Cortright  from  Orange  County,  and  Jacob  and  Roeliff 
Brinkerhoff  from  Harrisburgh,  Pa.  In  1795  the  families  of  Jacob 
Roeliff  and  Luke  Brinkerhoff,  Thomas  Johnson,  Jacob  Loyster,  An- 
drew Johnson,  Abraham  Bodine,  Isaac  Parsell,  James  Dales  and 
Charles  Van  Tine  came  from  the  Conewago  Reformed  church  near 
Gettysburgh,  Pa.  These  later  settlers  met  at  Col.  Hardenburgh's 
home  September  23,  1796,  organized  the  Owasco  church,  and,  later 
(1797),  built  the  first  house  of  worship  in  Cayuga  county.  They  found 
here  on  coming,  the  families  of  Adam  Tries,  Daniel  Miller,  Elijah 
Price,  and  Benjamin  DePuy.  Later  came  the  Cuykendalls  and 
Gumaers  from  Orange  county  (N.  J.).     Of  the  first  missionaries  there 


77 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

were  Rev.  Daniel  Thatcher,  and  Rev.  Asa  Hillyer  of  Orange,  N.  J., 
Rev.  Matthew  Perrine,  Rev.  James  Richards  and  Rev.  Henry  Miller, 
also  of  New  Jersey,  these  last  becoming  teachers  in  Aubury  Semin- 
ary. The  organization  took  place  at  the  home  of  Col  John  L. 
Hardenburgh,  the  founder  of  the  city  of  Auburn  on  September  23, 
1796.  In  1796  Rev.  Peter  Labagh  was  sent  to  the  western  part  of 
New  York  with  Rev.  Jacob  Sickles.  In  Todd's  Life  of  Dr.  Labagh 
the  latter  is  said  to  have  organized  Owasco  in  1796.  In  1797  the 
first  church  was  erected,  at  a  spot  about  midway  between  what  are 
now  Owasco  and  Owasco  Outlet.  It  was  built  of  logs,  twenty-five 
feet  by  thirty  feet,  with  four  windows  each  eighteen  inches  square, 
and  slabs  for  seats.  It  served  the  congregation  for  eighteen  years. 
The  first  consistory  consisted  of  Elders  Jacob  Brinckerhoff  and 
Cornelius  Van  Auken,  and  Deacons  Roeliff  Brinckerhoff  and  Thomas 
Johnson.  Col.  Hardenburgh  married  the  same  year  Martina  Brinck- 
erhoff and  the  names  of  their  two  children,  John  Herring  and  Maria 
are  on  the  Owasco  register  (1798-1800),  Rev.  Abram  Brokaw,  pastor. 
Col.  Hardenburgh  died  in  1806.  The  consistory  at  the  time  of  the 
building  of  the  church  consisted  of  Elders  James  Brinckerhoff, 
Thomas  Johnson,  Cornelius  De  Witt  and  Jacob  Brinckerhoff,  and 
Deacons  Samuel  Hornbeck,  Abram  Selover,  Levy  Boadly  and  Isaac 
Selover. 

The  ground  on  which  the  present  church  is  built  was  given  by 
Martin  Cuykendall.  Three  or  four  years  were  spent  in  the  building 
of  the  second  house  of  worship.  In  1811  a  subscription  was  made  for 
the  work,  and  in  1813  the  seats  were  sold  for  $3,772  and  $1,300  ad- 
ditional was  raised.  This  enabled  them  to  build  in  1815.  Rev. 
Abram  Brokaw  was  the  first  pastor  at  Owasco.  It  was  also  his 
first  pastorate  and  lasted  twelve  years,  when  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  church  at  Ovid,  where  he  remained  fourteen  more  years,  or  until 
1822  when  he  joined  the  "True  Reformed"  or  "Wyckofite"  church, 
for  which  secession  he  was  suspended  by  the  Classis.  Rev.  George 
G.  Brinckerhoff,  from  whose  congregation  at  Conewaga,  Pa.  many 
families  had  migrated  into  Cayuga  and  Genesee  counties,  New  York, 
and  who  was  settled  at  Sempronius,  N.  Y.  (near  Owasco)  supplied 
the  pulpit  until  the  coming  of  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  in  1812.  The 
entire  active  ministry  of  Mr.  Ten  Eyck 'was  in  the  Montgomery  Classis 
at  Mayfield,  Veddersburgh  (Amsterdam),  Fonda's  Bush,  Sand  Beach 
and  Owasco,  at  the  latter  place  preaching  for  fifteen  years.  In  the 
call  the  churches  at  Owasco  and  Sarp/  Beach  (Owasco  Outlet) 
promised  each  to  give  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  $150  and  150  bushels  of  wheat  an- 
nually. The  nearest  market  at  the  time  for  wheat  was  Utica  where 
it  sold  for  a  dollar  a  bushel.  During  his  pastorate  here,  or  in  1816, 
a  great  revival  swept  over  the  two  congregations,  resulting  in  ad- 
ditions to  the  churches  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-one  members.  Three 
years  later  on  complaint  of  a  few  members  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  was  tried  by 
the  Classis  on  the  charge  of  teaching  a  free  and  unlimited  atonement. 
Both  Classis  and  Particular  Synod  (to  which  body  appeal  was  made) 
upheld  the  teaching  and  work  of  the  good  minister.  This  was  in 
1819.  At  the  close  of  his  work  in  these  two  churches  (1826)  Mr. 
Ten  Eyck  retired  from  the  active  work  of  the  ministry.  His  daughter 
Elizabeth,  married  Rev.  Robert  W.  Hill,  Auburn  '26.  Mr.  Ten  Eyck 
died  in  1844  at  East  Gainesville  in  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 

Rev.  Israel  Hammond  succeeded  Ten  Eyck  in  the  pastorate,  com- 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

ing  in  1831,  and  remaining  until  1839.  He  had  two  short  pastorates 
later  at  Mt.  Morris  and  Gorham,  N.  Y.  He  died  in  1856.  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Evans  was  installed  in  1839  and  served  seven  years  or  until  1846, 
when  he  gave  up  the  active  work  of  the  ministry.  Rev.  Jacob  C. 
Dutcher  came  from  New  Brunswick  Seminary  to  this  his  first  charge 
and  remained  five  years  (1846-1850).  After  preaching  for  some  thirty- 
three  years  he  entered  the  consular  service  at  Port  Hope,  Can.  He 
died  in  1888.  Rev.  Henry  A.  Raymond(  father  of  Rev.  Dr.  A.  V.  V. 
Raymond)  had  a  short  pastorate  of  less  than  three  years  (1851-1853), 
but  continued  for  twenty  years  in  the  work  in  other  fields.  He  died 
in  1877.  Rev.  Wilson  Ingalls  followed  Mr.  Raymond  in  a  twelve  year 
service  to  the  Owasco  church  (1853-1854).  Mr.  Ingalls  studied  theology 
under  Dr.  Nott  of  Union  College  and  came  from  a  ten  year  pastorate 
in  the  1st  Church  of  Glenville.  Rev.  George  L.  Raymond,  Auburn 
'62,  was  a  member  of  this  church.  He  had  a  ten  year  pastorate  at 
Blooming  Grove,  N.  Y.  He  died  in  1889.  Following  Mr.  Ingalls  came 
Rev.  Alonzo  Paige  Peeke  (1865-1872).  After  a  pastorate  of  eight 
years  in  the  Rhinebeck  church,  Mr.  Peeke  went  west  and  served  the 
churches  at  De  Kalb,  la.,  and  Centreville,  Mich.  He  gave  a  great 
deal  of  time  and  work  to  the  institutions  of  the  church  at  Holland, 
Mich.  He  was  finishing  a  ten  year  work  at  East  Millstone,  N.  J., 
when  he  died  in  1900.  He  had  two  sons  in  the  ministry,  Louis  Peeke, 
a  Presbyterian  pastor,  and  Harmon  V.  S.  Peeke  (born  at  Owasco), 
who  since  his  graduation  at  Auburn  Seminary  in  1893,  has  been  in  the 
South  Japan  mission  of  the  Reformed  church.  Rev.  George  H.  Peeke 
(a  brother  of  the  former  pastor)  was  called  to  the  vacant  pulpit  and 
began  work  in  the  latter  part  of  1872  and  staid  until  1875.  Mr.  Peeke 
entered  the  Congregational  ministry  in  1876  and  after  twenty  or  more 
years  in  that  denomination  next  began  work  (1898)  in  the  Presby- 
terian church  of  Sandusky,  O.,  where  he  died  December  20,  1915. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Alonzo  Peeke  the 
"Wyckofite"  or  "True  Reformed  Church,"  a  secession  from  the  Dutch 
church,  which  began  in  1823,  was  disbanded,  the  building  being  sold 
to  the  Methodists,  and  now  used  by  them.  The  successor  to  George 
H.  Peeke  was  Rev.  Alfred  E.  Myers  (1893-1915  in  the  Collegiate 
church  of  New  York  City),  who  after  studying  at  New  Bruns- 
wick and  Princeton,  graduated  at  Union  Seminary  in  1870.  He  began 
his  work  in  the  Owasco  Reformed  church  in  1876  and  closed  it  in 
1878.  In  the  second  year  of  his  work  a  division  occurred  in  the 
church,  resulting  in  the  organization  of  a  Presbyterian  body,  which 
Myers  served  for  six  or  seven  years.  Other  pastors  were  Rev.  H.T?- 
Chadsey,  Rev.  Mr.  Hoyt,  and  Rev.  D.  I.  Biggar.  Afterwards  for  a  n*f <J*~rra£L 
few  years  this  church  was  supplied  by  students  from  Auburn  Semin- 
ary. Lying  vacant  for  many  years,  after  a  few  brief  pastorates, 
it  was  finally  sold  by  the  Presbytery  to  the  Roman  Catholics  (1912). 
Naturally  the  old  Dutch  church  suffered  severely  from  this  defection 
and  its  serious  consequences  can  be  traced  even  to  the  present  day. 
Rev.  Robert  H.  Barr  became  the  next  pastor,  coming  to  the  church 
in  1880  and  remaining  thro  1883.  In  1888  Mr.  Barr  went  to  the 
Associate  Reformed  church  located  at  Newburgh.  Rev.  Jonah  W. 
Vaughn's  pastorate  (1884-1889)  came  next,  followed  by  that  of  Rev. 
Ira  Van  Allen  (1889-1892).  Mr.  Vaughn  died  in  October,  1913.  Mr. 
Van  Allen  later  served  Mohawk  (1892-1898)  and  for  a  decade  now 
has    been    supplying    the    church    at    Owasco    Outlet.      Rev.    John    A. 

79 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Rodgers  an  Auburn  Seminary  graduate  supplied  Owasco  for  ten  years, 
or  until  April,  1903.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Classis  of  Montgom- 
ery in  1896,  but  was  never  installed  over  the  church.  Rev.  Robert 
Ivey  was  received  from  the  Syracuse  Presbytery  in  1903,  installed 
over  the  church  in  October  of  the  same  year,  and  resigned  in  March, 
1905.  Rev.  J.  Cassius  Sargent  became  stated  supply  of  the  church 
in  August,  1905,  and  continued  until  September,  1910.  He  joined  the 
Classis  of  Montgomery  at  the  Spring  session  of  1910,  but  was  never 
installed  over  the  church.  Leaving  Owasco,  Mr.  Sargent  went  to  the 
Cato  Presbyterian  church  (originally  Reformed-cf)  but  in  September, 
1912,  be  became  pastor  of  the  Liverpool  Presbyterian  church.  The 
change  in  the  community  is  evidenced  in  the  fact  that  during  Mr. 
Sargent's  supply  of  five  years  he  had  seventy-eight  funerals.  Rev.  Geo. 
G.  Seibert  came  to  Owasco  from  a  pastorate  of  six  years  in  the 
Hagaman,  N.  Y.  church  (cf).  He  began  his  work  at  Owasco  on 
January  1,  1912.  Mr.  Seibert  was  the  first  pastor,  educated  in  the 
schools  of  the  church  and  trained  in  the  experiences  of  the  denomina- 
tion that  the  Owasco  church  had  had  for  twenty  years.  This  century- 
old  church,  whose  light  has  never  ceased  to  shine,  still  holds  its 
place  of  power  in  the  religious  life  of  the  community.  There  is 
manifest  a  deepening  love  for  denominational  activities  and  an 
awakening  zeal  for  missions  at  home  and  abroad. 

OWASCO  OUTLET  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  original  name  of  this 
church  was  "Sand  Beach,"  by 
which  it  is  still  best  known.  The 
church  is  at  the  head  of  Owasco 
Lake,  situate  about  three  miles 
east  of  the  city  of  Auburn.  The 
history  of  Owasco  is  to  be  read 
in  conjunction  with  the  story  of 
the  Outlet  church,  as  the  same 
pastors  frequently  supplied  both 
of  the  fields.  As  early  as  1807 
efforts  were  made  to  build  a 
church  at  the  Outlet,  and  an- 
other effort  was  made  in  1810. 
In  November  of  1810,  pews 
in  the  new  church  (not  yet 
erected)  were  sold  for  $2,1^8.50, 
while  Asa  Jackson  gave  an  acre  of  land  on  which  to  erect  the  new 
building.  The  church  was  incorporated  in  December,  1810.  The  year 
of  the  organization  of  the  church  is  put  in  1812.  The  first  preaching 
at  the  "Sand  Beach"  church  was  by  Rev.  Abram  Brokaw,  who  was 
also  the  first  pastor  at  Owasco  (1796-1808).  But  before  this,  at  both 
Owasco  and  Owasco  Outlet,  preaching  services  had  been  more  or 
less  regularly  conducted  by  the  missionaries,  Revs.  Daniel  Thatcher 
and  Asa  Hillyer  from  Orange,  N.  J,  and  Revs.  Matthew  Larue  Per- 
rine,  James  Richards  and  Henry  Mills  of  New  Jersey  also,  the  last 
three  becoming  professors  at  Auburn  Seminary.  The  nearness  of 
both  of  these  fields  (Owasco  and  Owasco  Outlet)  to  the  Presbyterian 


80 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Seminary  at  Auburn  has  afforded  easy  opportunities  for  the  pulpits 
to  be  supplied  by  the  students  of  this  school,  especially  during  in- 
terims of  the  pastorates.  This  has  meant,  naturally,  longer  lapses 
between  the  pastorates  than  should  have  existed,  and  it  has  also 
resulted  in  distinct  loss,  thro  certain  periods,  of  the  influences  of  the 
two  churches  upon  the  work  of  the  denomination.  The  first  pastor 
was  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  who  also  preached  at  Owasco  (cf).  He 
came  to  the  church  in  1812  and  remained  thro  1826.  In  1816  eighty- 
nine  additions  were  made  to  this  church  (two  hundred  and  sixty-two 
at  Owasco).  Domine  Ten  Eyck  was  followed  in  1826  by  Rev.  Benj.  B. 
Westfall  (1827-1828),  who,  after  ten  years  in  the  Rochester  church 
went  to  Stone  Arabia  (cf)  where  he  died  in  1844.  For  two  years  (1828 
and  most  of  1829)  the  pulpit  was  supplied  by  Rev.  John  Dunlap,  who 
died  while  preaching  here,  and  by  Rev.  Henry  Heermance,  who  died 
in  1846  while  pastor  at  Kinderhook.  Rev.  John  G.  Tarbell  supplied 
the  Owasco  Outlet  church  for  two  or  three  years  (1830-1832).  He 
spent  some  forty  years  of  his  life  as  a  missionary  in  Michigan,  where 
he  died  in  1880.  Rev.  Leonard  Rogers  became  the  pastor  in  1833  and 
remained  thro  1834.  He  died  a  few  years  later  (1838).  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  Robert  Kirkwood  (1836-1839),  who  died  in  1866.  Fol- 
lowing Rev.  Mr.  Kirkwood  came  Rev.  John  G.  Moule,  a  Presbyterian 
minister  who  supplied  the  pulpit  thro  1839-1841,  and  was  followed  by 
Rev.  Richard  W.  Knight  (1841-1844),  who  later  supplied  Cato,  Ly- 
sander  and  Wolcott  (cf)  and  died  in  1873  after  he  had  been  out  of  the 
active  work  for  some  twenty  years. 

Rev.  Aaron  B.  Winfield  was  next  called  to  the  church  from  the 
Presbyterian  church  at  Friendsville,  Pa.  Mr.  Winfield  remained  at 
Owasco  Outlet  from  1844  thro  1850,  when  he  went  to  the  Paramus 
N.  J.  church  in  which  pastorate  he  died  in  1856.  Following  this 
pastorate,  Rev.  Samuel  Robbins  Brown  was  called  to  the  church  in 
1851  and  resigned  in  1859  to  go  to  Japan  where  he  spent  ten  years  in 
missionary  work.  He  had  previous  to  the  Owasco  Outlet  work  spent 
nearly  the  same  time  in  China  in  a  Chinese  Boys'  School.  On  a 
furlough  to  this  country  in  1869  he  supplied  the  pulpit  of  the  Owasco 
Outlet  church  for  a  year.  At  the  end  of  this  furlough  he  again  re- 
turned to  Japan  and  gave  ten  more  years  of  his  services  as  teacher 
in  Yokohama  and  Nigata.  He  died  at  Munson,  Mass.  in  1880,  in  the 
seventieth  year  of  his  age.  Guido  Fridolin  Verbeck  joined  the  Cayuga 
Classis  in  1859  and  became  a  member  of  Montgomery  in  1889.  He 
went  to  Japan  with  Dr.  Brown  in  lStl.  He  knew  seven  languages, 
and  added  Japanese  in  a  few  years.  He  was  a  citizen  of  the  world. 
He  founded  Japan's  system  of  education.  One  of  his  early  pupils 
was  Count  Okuma,  the  premier  of  1915.  Verbeck  of  all  foreigners 
who  ever  entered  Japan  may  be  justly  termed  its  new  creator. 
He  died  in  1898  at  Tokio  and  was  buried  with  imperial  honors. 
The  wife  of  Guido  F.  Verbeck  (Maria  Manion),  noted  missionary 
in  Japan,  Mrs.  E.  Rothesay  Miller,  late  of  the  Japan  mission,  who 
was  Mary  E.  Kidder,  and  Caroline  Adriance,  names  honored  in  the 
story  of  Japan's  Christianization,  were  all  members  of  this  church 
during  Dr.  Brown's  pastorate.  Miss  A.driance  died  at  Amoy,  leaving 
all  her  property  to  the  Foreign  Board.  Mrs.  Miller  founded  Ferris 
Seminary  at  Yokahoma,  Japan.  Miss  Hequemborg  also  went  in- 
to the  foreign  work  (1873)  from  this  church.  Dr.  Brown  had  the 
distinction    of    being    the    pioneer    teacher    in    Christian    education    in 

81 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

China,  in  being  the  founder  of  the  colleges  for  women  in  America, 
and  of  starting  the  movement  for  Christian  education  and 
theological  study  in  Japan.  Corwin's  Manual  gives  a  most 
interesting  account  of  Mr.  Brown's  life.  It  was  while  he  was  princi- 
pal of  a  school  at  Rome  that  Dr.  Brown  accepted  the  call  to  the 
Owasco  Outlet  church.  He  bought  a  farm  near  by  and  on  it  establish- 
ed a  school  in  order  to  increase  his  stipend  for  living.  The  school 
flourished,  the  church  waxed  strong,  a  new  edifice  was  built  in  1855, 
a  movement  was  started  by  him  which  resulted  in  the  founding  of  the 
"Elmira  Female  College,"  the  first  of  its  kind  in  America.  Rev. 
Dr.  Griffes  has  written  biographies  of  both  Brown  and  Verbeck. 
John  Garretson,  who  from  his  graduation  at  New  Brunswick  in  1826, 
devoted,  himself  to  the  missionary  movement  and  who  served  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions  for  ten  years  (1849-1859)  as  Correspond- 
ing Secretary,  succeeded  Dr.  Brown  in  the  Owasco  Outlet  church  in 
1861  and  remained  thro  1864.  The  present  parsonage  ground  was 
bought  in  1862  (the  old  property  having  been  sold  in  1854  for  $1,400) 
for  $1,250,  and  a  new  parsonage  built  for  $1,100.  The  church  cost 
$6,000.  Under  his  secretaryship  the  Holland  immigration  took  place 
(1847-1852),  and  Mr.  Garretson's  leadership  enabled  the  Board  to  make 
great  progress  in  the  west.  His  last  service  was  as  Rector  of  Hertzog 
Hall  in  which  position  he  died  in  1875.  Rev.  John  V.  N.  Schenck  came 
in  1865  and  after  three  years  went  to  Pompton  Plains,  N.  J.,  in  which 
pastorate  he  died  in  1874.  He  was  followed  in  the  church  by  Rev. 
Henry  S.  Huntington,  a  Presbyterian  minister  who  filled  the  pulpit 
in  1870  and  1871.  On  leaving  the  Owasco  Outlet  church  Mr. 
Huntington  became  pastor  of  the  Calvary  Presbyterian  church  of 
Auburn,  later  going  to  Caldwell  on  Lake  George.  In  1881  he  entered 
the  Episcopal  church.  He  died  December  22,  1895.  A  son,  George, 
is  rector  of  the  Niles  (Mich.)  P.  E.  church,  and  a  younger  son, 
David  C.  is  archdeacon  of  Western  Michigan. 

Rev.  W.  A.  Rice  preached  here  during  1871-1873,  and  Rev. 
Artemas  Dean  from  1873  thro  1875.  Mr.  Dean's  previous  ministry 
of  twenty-five  years  had  been  in  the  Congregational  church.  After 
leaving  Owasco  Mr.  Dean  had  two  pastorates  at  High  Bridge,  N.  J., 
and  at  the  Palisades  church.  He  resides  at  Mt.  Carmel,  Pa.  Rev. 
G.  A.  McKinley  supplied  the  pulpit  from  1886  thro  1887  and  Egbert 
C.  Lawrence  (cf  Thousand  Isles)  during  1878  (both  Auburn  men),  and 
Rev.  Charles  Anderson,  a  Presbyterian,  from  1879  thro  1883,  after  a 
pastorate  of  thirty  years  in  Sennet  Presb.  church;  he  died  in  1900; 
and  Rev.  R.  R.  H.  Dexter  (Presb.),  1884  thro  1887,  and  who  died 
in  1890,  and  Rev.  Hervey  D.  L.  Leland  from  1888  thro  1889. 
Mr.  Leland  was  allowed  to  demit  the  ministry  by  the  Montgomery 
Classis  in  the  Fall  of  1912.  Rev.  Charles  Maar  became  the  pastor  of 
the  Owasco  Outlet  church  on  his  graduation  from  Auburn,  and  was 
ordained  by  the  Montgomery  Classis  and  installed  over  the  church 
in  1892,  and  remained  until  1893  when  he  took  up  the  work  in  the 
new  Second  Reformed  church  of  Syracuse  (cf).  Rev.  Frank  A.  Force 
was  called  to  the  church  from  Gallupville  in  1895  and  remained  about 
four  years,  going  to  the  Cortlandtown  church  at  Montrose,  N.  Y.  He 
is  at  present  pastor  of  the  Gallatin  church  at  Mt.  Ross,  N.  Y.  Rev. 
Ephraim  W.  Florence  succeeded  Mr.  Force,  coming  in  1899  and  re- 
maining thro  1902,  going  to  the  Currytown  church  (cf)  in  that  year, 
from  which  he  went  in  1905  to  the  Philmont,  N.  Y.  church.    He  has  been 


82 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASS  IS 

living  in  Canada  for  some  years  now,  serving  the  church  of  England. 
Rev.  Ira  Van  Allen,  who  has  served  the  Montgomery  Classis  at  Mo- 
hawk (1892-1898-cf)  was  pastor  of  the  church  during  1890  and  1891, 
just  before  the  coming  of  Mr.  Maar.  After  leaving  Mohawk,  Mr.  Van 
Allen  gave  up  the  work  of  the  active  pastorate,  and  now  for  more 
than  ten  years  he  has  been  supplying  the  vacant  pulpit  of  the  Owasco 
Outlet  church.  Rev.  Mr.  Dean  in  1875,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Maar  in  1893, 
wrote  histories  of  the  church. 


SPRAKERS  REFORMED  CHURCH 

In  Revolutionary  times  this 
place  was  called  "Keder's 
Rift"  but  about  the  year  1800 
it  became  known  as  "Wester- 
lo."  Still  later,  because  of  the 
prominence  in  the  community 
of  Major  Yost  Spraker,  it  re- 
ceived the  name  of  "Sprakers 
Basin,"  which  has  for  many 
years  been  abbreviated  into 
its  present  form.  The  people 
of  the  community  were  in  the 
habit  of  going  to  "Sand  Hill" 
for  service  until  about  1790 
when  meetings  began  to  be 
held  in  the  homes  of  the 
people  by  the  nearby  pastors. 
On  October  29,  1796,  at  a  pub- 
lic gathering  a  Reformed 
Protestant  Dutch  church  was 
organized  under  the  direction  of  the  pastor  at  Fonda,  Rev.  Abraham 
Van  Home,  who  installed  these  officers:  Elders,  Andrew  Michel  and 
Daniel  Cornue,  and  Rynier  Van  Evera,  and  Deacons  William  Bell- 
inger, Jacob  Ehle,  and  Joseph  Van  Ingen.  In  1803  John  Roseboom 
and  Peter  Quackenbush  were  the  elders  and  William  Bellinger  and 
Wessel  Cornue  were  the  deacons.  In  1805  Rev.  John  C.  Toll  had 
come  into  the  work.  In  180G  Andrew  Mitchell  gave  land  for  the 
building  of  the  new  church  contemplated.  But  just  as  soon  as  plans 
were  laid  for  Westerlo  then  Currytown  wanted  a  church  too,  unless 
Westerlo  would  build  at  Currytown.  The  division  was  unfortunate 
at  the  time  to  both  communities.  But  Westerlo  went  ahead  and  the 
new  church  was  built  in  1807.  In  1814  it  was  proposed  to  move  the 
church  to  Canajoharie — a  geographical  term  which  included  a  large 
area,  sometimes  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  The  minutes  extant 
of  the  Westerlo  church  are  not  carried  beyond  1824,  but  Rev.  Isaac 
Labagh,  a  later  supplj'  and  pastor,  recorded  many  statistics  in  the 
Lawyersville  church  of  which  he  was  at  the  same  time  pastor.  The 
period  was  one  in  which  the  "Wyckofites"  were  eager  to  do  battle, 
and  Rev.  Toll  and  others  were  drawn  into  the  secession,  and  when 
they  could  not  take  their  church  with  them  they  went  off  and  started 
a  "True  Reformed  Church." 

For   nearly   a   score   of  years   the   Sprakers   church   was   supplied, 
Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda  who  had  nearby  fields,  often  preaching  here. 


83 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

It  was  not  until  Mr.  Romaine  came  to  Canajoharie  that  definite  plans 
were  carried  out  for  the  reorganization  of  the  church  in  1858.  It  was 
incorporated  April  9,  1858.  The  first  pastor,  Rev.  E.  Vine  Wales 
(1859-18*51)  came  from  the  Otsego  Presbytery.  He  died  in  Oneonta 
where  he  had  lived  since  1865.  Succeeding  him  in  1861,  Rev.  Nanning 
Bogardus  remained  until  1866.  This  was  his  last  pastorate.  He  had 
been  in  Fort  Plain  twenty-five  years  before  this.  Rev.  Benjamin 
Van  Zant  of  Canajoharie  supplied  the  church  for  two  or  three  years. 
In  1869  Rev.  David  K.  Van  Doren  was  called  and  remained  until  1873, 
preaching  also  at  Currytown.  He  went  to  the  Third  Reformed  Church 
of  Albany  and  had  later  pastorates  at  Schuylerville,  Scotia,  Middle- 
burgh  and  New  Salem.  He  died  in  1908.  The  next  pastor  was  Rev. 
Edward  G.  Ackerman  (1874-1878),  who  also  served  Currytown.  He 
died  in  1899.  Rev.  James  M.  Compton  supplied  the  pulpit  from  1878 
thro  1883  (cf  Ephratah).  Rev.  John  Minor  came  in  1884  and  remained 
a  couple  of  years  (1884-1885).  Rev.  John  Thomson  was  ordained  by 
the  Classis  in  1887  and  installed  over  the  churches  of  Sprakers  and 
Stone  Arabia,  and  was  here  for  five  years   (1887-1902). 

Rev.  James  B.  Campbell  was  called  to  the  church  in  1903  and 
staid  until  1906.  Tho  a  New  Brunswick  graduate,  Mr.  Campbell  had 
about  equally  divided  his  ministry  between  the  Reformed  and  Presby- 
terian bodies.  He  came  to  Sprakers  from  the  Shawnee  (Pa.)  Presby. 
Church  and  on  leaving  went  to  the  Raritan,  111.  church,  and  next  to 
Port  Jervis,  where  he  died  in  1911,  as  pastor  of  that  church.  A  man 
of  rare  spirit,  evangelistic,  and  of  great  power  of  prayer.  His  son, 
Rev.  Donald  Campbell,  became  a  Congregational  minister  and  when 
pastor  of  the  Schodack  Reformed  church,  demitted  the  ministry. 
Rev.  C.  V.  W.  Bedford  was  the  stated  supply  at  Sprakers  and  Curry- 
town in  1909,  and  served  the  church  for  nearly  four  years.  He  went 
next  to  Hagaman  (cf).  The  present  pastor  of  the  church  is  Rev. 
Harry  A.  Eliason,  who  supplying  the  pulpit  for  a  year  or  more,  was 
licensed  and  ordained  by  the  Classis  and  installed  over  Sprakers  and 
Currytown  on  July  14,  1914. 


ST.  JOHNSVILLE  REFORMED  CHURCH 


St.  Johnsville  was,  doubtless, 
settled  as  soon  as  Stone  Arabia 
of  which  it  was  originally  a  part, 
that  is  in  1725.  For  a  long  time 
the  place  was  called  "Timmer- 
man's"  after  the  first  settlers. 
Simms  say  the  present  name 
comes  from  Alexander  St.  John, 
a  pioneer  surveyor,  but  this  is 
conjectural  since  the  church  was 
called  "St.  John"  long  before 
the  village  was  named  St. 
Johnsville.  The  date  of  the  or- 
ganization of  the  church  has  al- 
ways been  placed  as  1770  but 
inasmuch  as  a  church  washere 
as  early  as  1756  (-N.  Y:  DOcT 
H-isi.)    we    are    inclined    to    give 


84 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

the  date  as  1750,  while  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  the  Germans 
who  settled  here  in  1725  did  any  different  from  those  who  settled 
at  the  same  time  at  Stone  Arabia  or  German  Flatts  who  organized 
the  church  as  soon  as  they  settled.  We  are  indebted  for  much  of  this 
history  of  St.  Johnsville  to  the  orderly  type  written  transcript  of  the 
church  records  by  R.  W.  Vosburgh,  archivist  of  the.  New  York  Genea- 
logical and  Biographical  Society,  who  has  illuminated  the  story,  by 
research  in  the  county  and  state  records  concerning  the  same.  St. 
John's  church  was  within  the  limits  of  the  Palatine  (Stone  Arabia) 
district  of  Montgomery  county,  a  part  of  which  in  1838  became  the 
town  of  St.  Johnsville.  The  Francis  Harrison  patent  of  1:3,000  acres 
was  obtained  of  the  Indians  in  1722,  and  a  year  later  the  entire  tract 
was  partitioned  off,  the  first  church  having  been  built  on  Lot.  No. 
13,  owned  by  George  C.  and  Jacob  Klock  (cf  Bk.  Deeds  48,  213). 
There  are  traditions  that  both  Christian  and  George  Klock  built  the 
first  church  in  1756.  The  Capitol  fire  destroyed  priceless  historical 
documents  which  would  verify  and  illumine  much  of  the  history  of 
the  Mohawk  valley  churches.  This  George  Klock  is  often  mentioned 
in  the  Sir  William  Johnson  correspondence  but  always  for  his  in- 
terference with  the  church  services  and  work,  and  particularly  for 
his  inimical  attitude  toward  Domine  Lappius,  and  his  deceit  toward 
the  Indians.  The  earliest  written  record  extant  of  the  church  is  in 
the  form  of  a  receipt  bearing  date  of  January  4,  1805.  Jacob  G.  Klock 
who  gave  this  receipt  was  the  son  of  George  Klock  the  elder,  owner 
of  lot  16  of  the  Harrison  patent,  thro  which  Klock's  Creek  flowed. 
Letters  of  administration  of  this  George  Klock  were  granted  October 
19,  1795  to  his  two  sons,  Jacob  G.  and  George  G.  Klock.  What  is 
known  as  "Klock's  Church,"  probably  erected  in  1786  in  the  Klock 
private  burying  ground,  was  the  work  of  George  Klock  (the  son  of 
George  Klock,  the  elder)  and  Col.  Jacob  Klock.  It  was  built  after 
the  Indian  raid  of  1780,  the  church  being  incorporated  March  13,  1787, 
the  title  being,  "The  Reformed  Calvinist  Church."  The  burying 
ground  of  this  so-called  "Klock's  Church"  occupied  the  central  por- 
tion of  the  eight  acre  lot  shown  on  the  map  dated  1842.  Undoubtedly 
the  first  services  at  St.  Johnsville  were  conducted  by  the  nearby 
pastors,  Schuyler  of  Stone  Arabia  and  Weiss  and  Rosencrantz  of 
German  Flatts  (cf).  The  usual  belief  is  that  the  first  church  was 
built  in  1770,  but  we  know  of  the  1756  building,  probably  the  initial 
structure.  The  first  settled  pastor  at  St.  Johnsville  was  Rev.  John 
Henry  Dysslin.  He  was  a  Swiss,  born  in  Burgdorf,  Canton  Berne, 
of  the  nobility.  Gathering  his  "goods"  together  he  left  home,  was 
shipwrecked  and  lost  all  but  his  life  which  he  vowed  to  God  if  saved 
from  the  sea.  Brot  to  New  York  City  he  then  returned  home,  was 
educated  for  the  ministry,  and  came  back  to  New  York  and  served 
the  German  churches  at  St.  Johnsville  and  Manheim  (1788-1812). 
Local  tradition  says  that  Mr.  Dysslin  was  buried  (died  in  1812)  be- 
neath the  pulpit  of  Klock's  church,  but  this  can  hardly  be  since  the 
Klock  church  was  taken  down  long  before  Mr.  Dysslin's  death,  and  had 
not  been  used  since  the  organization  removed  to  the  village.  About 
a  hundred  graves  are  still  visible  in  the  old  cemetery,  the  last  in- 
terment taking  place  in  1847.  One  stone  is  supposed  to  mark  the 
grave  of  Hendrick  Klock  the  pioneer  settler  who  died  in  1760,  aged 
ninety-two.  Rev.  John  Taylor  mentions  the  church  in  recounting 
his  missionary  travels  in  1802,  and  speaks  of  Mr.  Dozly  (Dysslin)  as 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

the  German  pastor.  For  the  first  two  years  Mr.  Dysslin's  salary  was 
$117,  with  use  of  glebe  lands,  etc.  The  third  year  he  was  paid  $119, 
and  a  receipt  dated  June  12,  1810,  shows  that  for  two  years  they  paid 
him  $120.  Additional  payments  were  in  wood,  wheat,  and  labor  in 
plowing  the  land.  Mr.  Dysslin  married  a  daughter  of  Col.  Jacob  Klock, 
by  whom  he  had  five  daughters  and  two  sons  wdiose  descendents  still 
live  in  the  community,  among  whom  are  the  Dysslins,  Beekmans, 
Klocks,   Bauders,   Nellis,  et  al. 

St.  John's  church  in  St.  Johnsville  is  one  mile  west  of  Klock's 
church  site.  The  old  church  was  torn  down  in  1818.  Originally  there 
wras  a  glebe  land  of  seven  acres  connected  with  the  present  property, 
the  burial  grounds  of  the  church  being  the  westerly  end  of  this  glebe 
and  extending  on  both  sides  of  Zimmerman's  creek.  References  to 
this  church  land  at  Fonda  are  plentiful.  The  land  originally  belonged 
to  Jacob  Zimmerman  (written  also  Timmerman),  and  as  far  back 
as  1792  payments  were  made  on  it.  The  work  had  not  progressed 
on  the  new  church  in  the  village  until  1803,  at  which  time  John  L. 
Bellinger  became  treasurer.  In  1804  the  seats  were  sold,  among  the 
buyers  being  W.  I.  Walrath,  Andrew  Zabriskie,  Wm.  Shaver,  Fredk. 
Bellinger,  Jacob  J.  Failing,  Fredk.  Getman,  Peter  Storms,  Conrad 
Hellecoos,  John  Euker,  Henry  Beekman,  Catharine  Windocker,  John 
C.  House,  Peter  Kels,  and  John  Kring.  The  church  was  completed 
June  1,  1$04,  during  the  pastorate  of  John  Dysslin  (who  was  al- 
so the  pastor  at  Canajoharie  Castle  (Indian  Castle).  The  first  par- 
sonage stood  near  the  center  of  the  glebe  lot,  and  Rev.  De  Voe  was 
the  first  pastor  to  occupy  it.  Mr.  Dysslin  remaining  in  the  Klock 
church  parsonage,  or  house,  which  Mrs.  Dysslin  had  inherited  from 
Col.  Jacob  Klock.  Prior  to  February  11,  1829,  St.  John's  church  was  an 
independent  German  Reformed  body,  tho  served  by  a  member  of  the 
Classis  of  Montgomery,  which  Classis  had  installed  Mr.  De  Voe  over  the 
churches  of  St.  John's  of  Oppenheim  and  of  St.  Paul's  at  Manheim 
(received  by  Classis  in  1822).  After  Mr.  Dysslin's  death  the  church  was 
supplied  for  a  while  by  Rev.  John  J.  Wack  (cf  "Sand  Hill")  who  was 
then  at  Stone  Arabia.  Rev.  David  De  Voe  came  to  St.  John's  in 
1816  and  remained  until  1830.  Mr.  De  Voe  joined  the  Montgomery 
Classis  in  1813,  and  preached  at  Beaverdam  and  Middleburgh.  While 
pastor  at  St.  Johnsville,  Mr.  De  Voe  organized  churches  at  Fayette, 
Seneca  county,  and  at  Le  Roy,  Jefferson  county.  His  last  work  was 
at  Columbia  (cf)  and  Warren  (Herkimer  county)  during  1834  thro 
1837,  tho  he  did  some  missionary  work  in  Lewis  county  (Turin)  until 
1841.     He  died  in  1844. 

Rev.  Abraham  H.  Myers  came  to  St.  Johnsville  in  August,  1830, 
from  the  Seminary  and  remained  a  year.  He  also  supplied  Man- 
heim (cf)  later  (1848-1852).  Rev.  Herman  B.  Stryker  was  the  next 
pastor  who  came  in  February,  1833,  remaining  thro  May,  1834.  On 
his  graduation  from  the  Seminary  in  1822  he  had  done  some  mission- 
ary work  at  Johnsburgh  and  Warrensburgh  (Warren  county).  He 
was  also  in  the  Union  church,  Amsterdam  (1827-1832)  from  which  he 
went  to  Glenville.  After  a  retirement  from  the  active  work  for  twenty 
years  he  died,  December  11,  1871,  following  a  decade  of  work  at  the 
Huguenot  church  of  Staten  Island.  Rev.  James  Murphey  succeeded, 
remaining  from  June,  1834,  to  July,  1837,  when  he  went  to  the  dual 
pastorate  at  Herkimer  (cf).  He  died  while  supplying  Frankfort  (1854- 
1857).      Rev.   A.    H.    Myers   returned   for   a   second   pastorate   and   re- 

80 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

mained  seven  years  (1837-1844).  He  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-five 
in  1886  and  was  buried  at  Port  Ewen.  Rev.  Joseph  Knieskern  came 
next  in  May,  1845,  and  remained  until  September,  1872.  In  1848, 
$2,000  was  spent  in  repairs  on  the  church.  Mr.  Knieskern  also  supplied 
Manheim  and  Indian  Castle.  For  some  years  after  leaving  this  field 
he  supplied  the  Virgil  Presbyterian  church.  A  cold  caught  at  a 
funeral  at  St.  Johnsville  so  affected  his  voice  as  to  render  him  almost 
unfit  for  pulpit  service.  He  died  at  Cortland,  September  7,  1895.  Rev. 
Edward  Lodewick  was  the  eighth  pastor,  remaining  a  little  over 
three  years  (1872-1875).  He  was  ordained  by  the  Montgomery 
Classis.  His  next  charge  was  in  the  Pascack,  N.  J.  church.  He  died 
at  Bound  Brook,  N.  J.,  September  14,  1909.  During  this  pastorate 
the  glebe  land  was  sold,  several  acres,  on  both  sides  of  the  creek, 
for  $6,025.  The  church  debts  were  paid  and  the  rest  of  the  proceeds 
went  into  the  new  parsonage  which  cost  $3,400.  The  bodies  were 
removed  from  the  glebe  land  to  the  village  cemetery.  Rev.  George 
Van  Neste  came  in  September,  1875,  and  remained  a  little  more  than 
three  years.  He  died  in  1898.  He  had  been  pastor  at  Lodi  (cf)  for  a 
dozen  years.  Other  pastorates  followed  this  field  at  Kiskatom  and 
Flatbush,  and  one  at  Pottersville,  N.  J.  -tfe.  wa=s  A*-fa*ber  -&k  Elder 
Afe#*a*-  Van  Nes4:  wire  gtuie  ^imm  M«*t  tiaW-  te-  R-tttg»fss  Colkgc,  H e 
was  of  the  seventh  generation  from  Peter  Van  Nest,  who  came  to 
Long  Island  from  Holland  in  1647.  The  pulpit  was  next  filled  by 
Rev.  Albert  Dod  Minor  (1879-1888),  who  went  next  to  Mohawk  (cf) 
During  Minor's  pastorate  the  present  church  was  built  in  1881.  Mr. 
Minor  preached  an  historical  sermon,  as  did  his  successor,  Rev. 
Philip  Furbeck,  who  gave  a  great  deal  of  study  to  the  old  documents. 
We  have  been  unable  to  locate  either  of  these  investigations. 
Mr.  Furbeck  came  in  1888  and  remained  thro  a  part  of  1893.  His 
brother,  George,  died  October  18,  1851,  the  year  of  his  graduation  at 
New  Brunswick  Seminary.  Rev.  Furbeck's  first  charge  in  the  Classis 
was  at  Fonda  (cf).  Rev.  Charles  W.  Kenney  took  up  the  work  in 
1893  and  left  in  1899  to  become  pastor  of  the  Hobart  Presbyterian 
church.  He  was  later  in  the  Mohawk  church  (cf).  Rev.  Orville  J. 
Hogan  was  next  called.  He  had  been  at  Rocky  Hill,  N.  J.  when  he 
came  to  this  field  in  1899  and  remained  here  ten  years,  going  to 
his  present  charge  at  Closter,  N.  J.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  Fred- 
erick Perkins  was  already  in  the  Montgomery  Classis  at  Lodi,  when 
called  to  this  field  in  1909. 

Three  churches  were  continuous  and  collegiate  with  St.  John's 
at  St.  Johnsville,  the  pastors  of  the  latter  preaching  statedly  at 
Youker's  Bush,  Canajoharie  Castle  ("Indian  Castle"),  and  "Snell's 
Bush  (Manheim).  Of  Youker's  Bush  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  was 
organized  by  De  Voe  in  1821,  and  from  1830  to  1887  was  collegiate 
with  St.  Johnsville.  The  building  was  erected  in  1830  and  stood  about 
a  mile  and  a  half  east  of  Crum  Creek,  and  half  a  mile  north  of  the 
county  line.  The  spot  is  two  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Upper  St. 
Johnsville  church,  tho  never  mentioned  in  the  minutes  of  Classis.  In 
1857  a  new  church  was  built,  a  mile  and  a  half  east  from  the  first 
Youker's  Bush  church,  and  is  about  three  miles  north  by  east  of  St. 
Johnsville,  and  was  controlled  by  the  Dutch  Reformed  church.  It 
paid  $225  of  Van  Neste's  salary,  and  $150  of  Minor's  salary.  About 
the  year  1887  the  Reformed  services  ceased,  and  later  the  Grace 
Christian  church  of  St.  Johnsville  assumed  direction  of  the  services. 

87 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

The  Canajoharie  Castle  church  was  the  present  Indian  Castle  church 
(cf)  now  standing  in  the  town  of  Danube.  It  was  erected  in  1769 
by  Sir  William  Johnson  who  is  said  to  have  personally  paid  for  the 
whole  cost  of  the  same,  which  was  $1,147.50.  The  church  was  built  for 
a  church  of  England  mission  to  foster  religion  among  the  Indians  of 
the  Upper  Mohawk  castle.  Thro  the  years  the  Dutch  Reformed  and 
German  Reformed  and  Lutherans  and  Presbyterians  have  all  held 
services  here.  The  Reformed  Dutch  church  of  the  Castle  was  in- 
corporated about  1800.  [The  Snell's  Bush  church,  called  now  the 
,  Manheim   church    (cf),   is   situated  in   the  town   of   Manheim,   midway 

^f^-J^i^between  St.  Johnsville  and  Little  Falls.  Before  the  revolution  Suf- 
^XAA^vfi^^*^  frenus,  Peter,  Joseph  and  Jacob  Snell  of  Snell's  Bush  gave  seven 
acres  for  church  and  twelve  acres  for  school  purposes.  A  church 
was  built  but  burned  during  the  revolution,  and  later  rebuilt.  It 
stood  until  1850  when  it  was  taken  down  and  the  present  church 
built.  These  churches  are  historically  considered  elsewhere  in  this 
record?_ 

STONE  ARABIA  REFORMED  CHURCH 

Stone   Arabia   is   sphinx-like   in   the   origin 
_______        _        of    its    name.      None    of    the    fanciful    theories 

.  about  it   satisfy.     That   some  of  the   Palatines 

Q^lQT)y\fQ.0lO.  had  traveled  in  Arabia   Petrae  and   saw  a  re- 

JferowcD QtyRcn-  semblance    in    the    "Nose"    and    the    low    lying 

5r0«/7»™«  *r  hills    of    the    country    to    that    place    is    mere 

Of?g*m,z£o  hbout  conjecture.     The  name  is  variously  spelled  and 

-  1 7* — 0~  misspelled    in    the    church    and    other    records 

0/ttSm,, Ch»rct, bui)t->»  .j        thro   the   nearly   two   hundred   years   since   the 
~°  //,<y<3"°~  men  of  the  German  Palatinate  first  settled  in 

the  valley.  One  hundred  and  twenty-seven 
names  are  among  the  first  settlers  to 
whom  the  land  was  parcelled  out.  At  this  time  the  road  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Mohawk  ended  at  Cayadutta  creek,  not  far  from 
Fonda,  access  beyond  being  only  by  Indian  paths.  In  1726  a  new 
road  was  undertaken,  to  be  built  as  far  as  Utica.  The  land  upon 
which  the  original  Stone  Arabia  church  was  built  (a  log  struc- 
ture) and  which  stood  where  the  present  Lutheran  church  is  now 
erected,  was  purchased  of  one  William  Coppernoll  of  Schenectady, 
the  contract  being  dated  Jbnfiars*  >,  1729,  the  deed  to  be  given  by 
April  9,  1731.  The  deed,  however  was  dated  May  29,  1732.  It  con- 
sisted of  50  acres  for  which  £100  was  to  be  paid,  the  other  parties 
to  the  transaction  being  Andrew  Fink,  Warner  Diegert,  Johannes 
Schnell,  and  "all  the  rest  of  the  proprietors  and  owners  of  the  Stone 
Raby  patent."  In  the  following  year  (1733)  the  people,  German 
Lutherans  and  German  Calvinists,  began  to  build  a  frame  church,  on 
the  site  of  the  building  now  occupied  by  the  church.  The  foundation 
had  been  laid  when  a  controversy  arose  as  to  the  name  by  which  the 
church  should  be  known  in  the  future.  The  Lutherans  withdrew 
from  the  project  and  returned  to  the  old  log  church,  while  the  Re- 
formed people  continued  to  build.  Johannes  Schnell  and  Johannes 
Krembs  were  the  contractors,  having  given  bonds  for  £400  to  finish 
the  building  according  to  the  plans.     Five  years  were  spent  in  build- 

88 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

ing,  but  no  record  is  given  of  the  cost  or  size  of  the  edifice,  nor  any 
view  exists  of  the  church,  unless,  perchance,  the  ancient  seal  illus- 
trates this  nrstchiirch.  Rev.  Wm.  C.  Berkenmeyer,  S$aot%€^k.  the 
ga2*t*fte*  Ston-e^churchi  (1733-1743),  Lutheran,  writes  under  date  of 
August  11,  1734,  that  he  had  visited  Stone  Arabia  and  held  services 
in  a  church  jointly  built  by  the  Reformed  and  Lutherans.  This  must 
have  been  the  original  church.  Under  date  of  February  17,  1745, 
Rev.  Peter  Nicolas  Sommer  in  his  Journal  writes  that  he  had  held 
a  service  of  communion  for  the  Lutherans  of  Stone  Arabia  in  the 
barn  of  Wilhelm  Nellis.  This  shows  that  the  old  log  structure  had 
already  been  abandoned,  but  as  yet  no  Lutheran  church  had  been 
erected  to  take  its  place.  Ten  years  later  the  Lutherans  and  the  Re- 
formed people  divided  equalljr  the  50  acres  of  Glebe.  The  release 
given  by  the  Luthern  church  to  the  Reformed  church  is  dated 
"Twenty-seventh  day  of  March  in  the  seventeenth  year  of  the  Reign 
of  our  Sovereign  Lord  George  the  Sec- 
ond, over  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ire- 
land, King,  Defender  of  the  Faith,  etc., 
and  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  Christ,  one 


'i|      ' 

if 

A! 

11 

H 

H 

ff- 

"  if? 

IT 

ft 

'-— 

r 

- 

1 

thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-four."  It  is  the  oldest  and  most 
valuable  of  the  very  few  papers  or  records,  outside  of  the  books,  in. 
the  possession  of  the  church.  It  is  signed  by  Jacob  Schnell,  Kirl£ 
Loux,  Wm.  Brouer,  Laverinus  Deigert,  Peter  Suits,  Hendrick  Louxy 
Nicholas  Horning,  William  Coppernoll,  Peter  Diegert,  Harris  Schnell) 
Andreas  Fink  and  Johannes  Krems.  Each  name  is  differently  "sealed" 
and  six  are  "marked." 

This  old  stone  church,  and  the  one  at  German  Flatts  (Fort 
Herkimer)  whose  foundations  were  laid  almost  half  a  century 
before  it,  are  among  the  most  remarkable  and  rarest  ecclesiastical 
buildings  to  be  found  in  the  United  States.  The  elements  of  time 
and  innovation  have  not  changed  their  form,  except  slight  improve- 
ments made  necessary  within.  The  same  simple  but  substantial  lines 
of  craftsmanship  that  the  builders  wrought  into  these  stone  Houses 
of  God  abide  to  this  day.  Ardently  we  hope  that  for  ages  to  come 
they  will   remain   to   teach   other   generations,   many   yet   unborn,    of 

89 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


the  price  of  liberty  and  the  value  of  worship.  Altho  Stone  Arabia 
was  organized  nearly  two  hundred  years  ago  and  about  it  have  oc- 
curred some  of  the  most  tragic  events  of  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk, 
and  its  membership  evidently  originated  the  Tryon  County  Com- 
mittee of  Safety  (cf),  and  to  it  the  nation  is  indebted  for  a  large 
share  of  those  human  forces  that  gave  independence  and  liberty  to 
the  Republic,  yet,  strange  to  say,  we  have  never  known  of  a  history 
of  this  church  to  be  written.  The  present  effort  is  a  duplication  of 
an  address  given  by  the  writer  at  the  time  of  the  one  hundred  and 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  building  of  the  present  stone  structure. 
The  first  minister  among  the  Palatine  Germans  in  America  was  the 
Rev.  Joshua  Kocherthal,  a  Lutheran  pastor  who  came  over  with  the 
first  Palatine  emigration  in  1709,  under  the  favor  and  support  of 
Queen  Anne.  For  ten  years  he  worked  among  his  people,  who  had 
settled  near  Newburgh  on  the  Hudson.  His  death  occurred  in  1719. 
In  1709  Kocherthal  visited  England  and  on 
his  return  in  1710,  the  Rev.  John  Frederick 
Haeger  accompanied  him,  organizing  on  his 
arrival  in  New  York  City  an  Episcopal 
church.  The  missionary  society  of  the 
Church  of  England  paid  him  a  salary  of  £50 
annually.  Haeger  tried  at  first  to  win  the 
Lutherans  over  to  Episcopacy  and  when  he 
failed  in  this,  he  turned  his  attention  to  the 
Reformed  Germans.  But  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land was  not  attractive  to  either,  and  Kocher- 
thal opposed  his  efforts.  Haegar's  work 
was  almost  wholly  confined  to  the  Hudson 
EnTitnnc£On»r£DjNj^^  river  settlements  below  Catskill.  He  died  in 
1721,  for  years  having  been  neglected  by  the  society  that  had  sent 
him  into  the  foreign  field,  tho  his  letters  are  piteously  appealing  for 
support.  The  third  minister  to  serve  the  Palatines  was  the  Rev.  John 
Jacob  Ehle.  The  oldest  record  book  of  the  Lutheran  church  of  Stone 
Arabia  bears  on  its  cover  the  statement  that  the  original  church  here 
was  organized  by  Ehle  in  1711,  but  this  is  an  error,  both  because  Ehle 
did  not  come  to  America  until  October,  1722,  and  because  the  Pala- 
tines did  not  come  into  this  section  from  Schoharie  in  any  consider- 
able numbers  until  about  the  same  year.  Most  of  the  original  settlers 
had  come  by  1710.  The  Rev.  Ehle,  as  his  predecessor,  Haeger,  was  an 
Episcopalian,  having  been  ordained  by  the  bishop  of  London, 
in  August,  1722.  He  was  a  Palatine  and  educated  at  Heidelberg.  At 
first  his  work  was  among  the  German  settlements  on  the  Hudson, 
though  he  supplied  Kinderhook  frequently,  at  which  place  he  married 
Johanna  Van  Slyck  in  June,  1723.  From  1742  until  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1777  at  the  age  of  92,  his  entire  ministry  was  spent  in  the 
Schoharie  and  Mohawk  valleys.  On  February  8,  1762,  Rev.  Ehle 
wrote  Sir  William  Johnson  protesting  vigorously  against  certain 
Bostonians  who  were  proposing  to  establish  schools  among  the  Mo- 
hawks as  well  as  the  Presbyterian  faith  He,  doubtless,  spent  some 
years  in  regular  service  at  both  Schonane  ina  Stone  Arabia  and  the 
settlements  between,  but  after  1750  his  work  was  confined  mainly  to 
the  Mission  established  near  Palatine  (then  called  Canajoharie),  the 
building    still    standing   and   his   adjacent   residence,    called   also    Fort 


90 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


Ehle,  situate  a  short  distance  east  of  the  Fort  Plain  N.  Y.C.  depot. 

In  his  latter  years  he  devoted  most  of  his  time  to   his  work  among 

the  Indians  to  whom  in  1750  he  had  been  appointed  a  missionary,  and 

with  the  Rev.   Peter  H.  Van  Driesen   (dec.   1738),  was  given  valuable 

land  tracts  by  them  in  appreciation  of  his  services.     Ehle's  descend-  a 

ant's  still  occupy  this  land.  ~Xor  ><^^^  ,^r^^c-^  £~t2^£ty  frsC/to****2- &*'^^2-a^ 

The  Rev.  Michael  Weiss  (Weitzil/s  he  sometime?  wrote  it)  was  "^-s-c-w?^ 
the  first  ordained  Reformed  minister  to  labor  among  the  Palatines 
of  the  Schoharie  and  the  Mohawk  valleys.  Born  in  the  Palatinate,  a 
graduate  of  Heidelberg  at  18,  ordained  in  1725,  he  came  to  America 
two  years  later  (with  400  others)  sent  there  by  the  Palatine  consis- 
tory.    For  four  years  he  worked  in  Pennsylvania,  then  came  to  Scho- 


harie country  in  1731,  going  the,  next  year 


^oxsackie,  where  he  re- 


year  to  Lo 
mained    four    years,    and    in"T73fland    for    seven    years    stationed    at 
German    Flatts    (Fort   Herkimer).      From   German   Flatts   he   went   to 
Rhinebeck   in   1742.      No   mention   is  made   in   the   existing  records   at 
Stone  Arabia  of  the  service  either  of  the  Revs. 
Ehle  or  Weiss,  but  we  know  the  former  often 
preached  here,  and  Weiss,  doubtless,  frequent- 
ly supplied  this  pulpit  during  his  pastorate  at 
German    Flatts.      After    two    other    pastorates 
Weiss    died   at    Gosenhoppen,    Pa.,    in    1762,   at 
the  age  of  62.     During  his  years  in  the  valley, 
Weiss,  as   Ehle,  worked  among  the   Mohawks. 
Weiss  wrote  quite  a  graphic  description  of  the 
Indians.      The     Rev.    Johannes    Schuyler    had 
four    pastorates,     two    of    which 
were  at  different  periods  in  Scho- 
harie, involving  some  thirty  years 
or  more,  the   first  for  a   score   of 
years  following  1735.    During  this 
first   pastorate   he   supplied   Stone 
Arabia  and  German  Flatts,  where 
his   name   is   to   be   found   on    the 
earliest    subscription    list    toward 
the     completion     of     the     partly 
built     church.       By     some     he     is 
thought    to    have    been    the    man    who    organized    the    Stone    Arabia 
church.      The   first   consistory   record   is   dated    October   24,    1743,   yet 
members  were  admitted  into  the  church  and  so  recorded  as  early  as 
1737.      Ten   members   joined   in    1739   and   seven   in    1740.      There   is   a 
baptism    in    1739    of    Henry    Richard    Loux,    the    son    of   Adam    Loux. 
The  church  early  in  its  history  was  an  Independent  Reformed  church, 
probably     from     the     beginning     the     Lutherans     having     their     own 
organization.      There    is    a    record    showing    that    at    first    consistory 
gatherings    were    largely    verbal    meetings    with    no    records.       Rev. 
Schulyer  was  a  member  of  the  first  Coetus  (1738),  first  Dutch  minister 
to  be  ordained  in  this  country,  which  act  was  approved  by  the  Classis 
of  Amsterdam.     We  are  inclined  strongly  to  believe  from  conditions 
that  prevailed  at  German   Flatts,  that  one  of  the  first  things  done  at 
Stone    Arabia    was   the    organization    of   a   church,    without    doubt    as 
early  as   1725.      It   may  be   that   the   earliest  baptisms,   marriages   and 
admissions   to   membership   were   regarded   as   a   part   of   the   work   of 
the   Schoharie  church.     The   earliest  record   extant  of  the   consistory 


91 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

is  dated  October  24,  1743, — "Johannes  Schuyler,  Praedeger  of  Scho- 
harie and  Steinrabie;  Dietrich  Loux  and  Jost  Snell,  elders,  and  Ser- 
venus  Duiker  and  Adam  Loux,  deacons."  This  is  the  first  minister 
mentioned  in  the  extant  records.  Rev.  Schuyler  left  Stone  Arabia 
and  Schoharie  in  1756  to  succeed  Rev.  Curtenius  in  the  Hackensack, 
N.  J.  church,  where  he  remained  ten  years,  returning  next  to  Scho- 
harie where  he  died  on  April  16,  1779,  aged  sixty-nine.  He  was  buried 
beneath  the  pulpit  of  the  old  stone  church,  erected  toward  the  close 
of  Schuyler's  second  pastorate,  later  used  as  a  fort.  Rev.  Schuyler 
married  Annatje  Veeder  of  Schenectady  in  1743,  and  had  six  children. 
His  sixth  son,  Philip,  was  the  builder  of  the  Stone  Arabia  church  in 
1788.  Philip  was  also  engaged  on  the  Inland  Lock  Navigation  Co. 
under  Gen.  Schuyler,  to  whom  he  was  distantly  related.  His  only 
daughter,  Margaret,  became  the  wife  of  Andrew  Van  Wie  of  Florida 
(Montgomery  county).  A  sister  of  Rev.  Schuyler,  Elisabeth,  was  the 
wife  of  Gosen  M.  Van  Alstyne,  who  built  the  old  stone  house,  the 
first  in  the  present  village  of  Canajoharie,  still  standing,  and,  by 
some  erroneously  thot  to  be  Fort  Rensselaer.  Mrs.  Margaret  Snell 
of  Herkimer  was  a  great  grandaughter.  The  names  of  the  minister 
and  those  of  his  two  sons,  Peter  and  Philip,  are  carved  in  the  stones 
of  the  old  Fort  at  Schoharie. 

The  "Rev.  Johannes  Aemilius  Wernig"  is  the  way  this  successor  of 
Schuyler  spells  his  name  in  the  record.  Under  date  of  July  14,  1751, 
the  church  of  "Stein  Rabien,"  testified  to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam 
(Holland),  of  the  good  character  and  correct  standing  of  their  pastor. 
The  letter  is  in  German  and  is  signed  by  32  names  as  follows:  Peter 
Lutz,  Johannes  Schnell,  Henrich  Fehling,  Johannes  Jost  Snell,  Sev- 
erinus  Deigert,  Wilhelm  Wermuth,  Henrich  Lauchs,  Casper  Kock 
(Cook),  Peter  Kremps,  Gottfried  Helmer,  Friederich  Bellinger,  Jr., 
Friederich  Bellinger,  Johann  Leonhardt  Helmer,  Henrich  Lauchs, 
George  Koppernoll,  Henry  Ifer'kel,  Jacob  Krauz,  Adam  Lauchs, 
Frederich  Getmann,  Conrad  Kutz,  Johann  Henrich  Klock,  Wilhelm 
Lauchs,  Johannes  Kremps,  Wilhelm  Koppernoll,  Leonhardt  Helmer, 
Robert  Gerder,  Adam  Wabel,  Johannes  Fehling  Johannes  Snell,  Jr., 
Dietrich  Lauche,  Johannes  Henrich  Riemenschneider.  The  church 
decided  to  call  Wernig,  who  had  already  declined  to  go  to  Lancaster, 
Pa.,  but  a  year  elapsed  before  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  replied,  who 
said  that  Wernig  had  exhibited  no  evidence  that  he  was  even  a  can- 
didate (his  papers  were  not  satisfactory),  much  less  that  he  was  a 
minister.  They  seemed  to  have  investigated  his  Heidelberg  record, 
for  they  admit  he  is  a  licentiate,  but  his  examination  for  the  ministry 
was  not  sustained.  Therefore  Classis  votes  that  Wernig  must  come 
to  Holland  to  be  examined  before  they  can  approve  the  call  of  the 
Stone  Arabia  church.  This  was  the  action  of  July  17th,  1752.  On 
September  14,  1752,  Wernig  writes  from  Stone  Arabia  a  long  letter 
to  his  friend,  the  Rev.  John  Ritzema  of  New  York  city.  It  is  full  of 
scathing  rebuke  for  the  disturbers  in  the  field,  and  replete  with  fine 
sarcasm  for  some  of  the  preachers  whom  Wernig  claims  "serve  the 
flock  only  for  the  wool  that  is  in  it."  He  wants  to  be  examined  by 
the  New  York  City  Reformed  ministers,  which  request  was  refused 
September  17,  1753,  and  says  he  can't  go  to  Holland,  among  other 
reasons,  because  he  has  married  a  wife,  and  hasn't  any  money,  and 
on  his  first  voyage  over  he  came  near  dying  of  sea  sickne^  (Eccles. 
Histy.   N.   Y.,   V.   3162,  3285).     After  leaving   Stone   Arabia    (he   also 

92 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

served  Canajoharie  and  Schoharie)  all  trace  of  him  is  lost.  Rev. 
Sommers  of  the  Lutheran  church  married  Mr.  Wernig  to  Anna  Maria 
Schnell  on  July  2,  1751. 

Under  date  of  May  30,  1755,  the  Coetus  (predecessor  of  the 
General  Synod)  asked  permission  to  ordain  and  install  John  Mauritius 
Goetschius  over  the  church  of  Stone  Arabia  which  they  say  is  a 
"German  Reformed  church  north  of  Albany ...  .for  sometime  past 
imposed  upon  and  tossed  about  and  injured  by  German  (ministerial) 
tramps.  It  is  far  distant  and  has  little  strength;  but  it  longs  for  the 
Gospel  ministry.  ..  .if  not  helped  now  in  this  way.... it  is  liable  to 
become  totally  scattered."  But  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  under  date 
of  April  5,  1756,  writes  that  it  will  not  permit  Mauritius  Goetschius 
to  be  installed  at  Stone  Arabia  to  which  he  had  been  called.  Mr. 
Goetschius  was  a  physician,  and  was  licensed  in  1754  and  was  at 
Schoharie  in  1757-1760,  and  doubtless  supplied  Stone  Arabia  during 
these  same  years  or  a  part  of  the  time.  He  was  ordained  at  Scho- 
harie on  December  14,  1757.  His  next  and  last  pastorate  was  at  New 
Paltz,  an  itinerary  of  thirty  miles.  Here  he  died  in  1771.  He  practiced 
medicine  all  his  life.  He  was  one  of  the  original  trustees  of  Queens 
College.  The  Rev.  Abram  Rosencrantz  ©ee»sie«a41y  served  Stone 
Arabia  during  the  years  1756-1758,  and  a  second  time  from  1760  thro 
1770.  Rosencrantz  was  one  of  the  original  patentees  of  the  tract 
known  as  "Stally's  Patent,"  in  the  town  of  Little  Falls.  He  was  a 
graduate  of  one  of  the  German  universities  and  at  the  time  the  fore- 
most divine  west  of  Schenectady.  His  first  work  was  at  German 
Flatts  (cf)  and  Canajoharie  in  the  old  "Sand  Hill"  church,  where  he 
labored  from  1752  to  1758.  A  brother  in  the  ministry  was  working 
among  the  German  families  scattered  along  the  route  from  Schoharie 
to  Utica,  but  died  (1752)  just  before  Abram  came  to  America.  In 
1758  and  1759  he  was  called  to  a  work  among  the  Germans  in  New 
York  city,  but  in  1760  he  returned  to  the  Mohawk  valley,  preaching 
in  Stone  Arabia,  Canajoharie  and  German  Flatts.  He  supplied  this 
church  for  ten  years  from  1760,  spending  the  remainder  of  his  life, 
about  40  years,  at  German  Flatts.  Rosencrantz  married  Anna  M. 
Herkimer,  a  sister  of  the  general.  He  died  on  Fall  Hill,  in  1796, 
and  was  buried  beside  his  brother  under  the  pulpit  of  the  old  stone 
church  at  German  Flatts  (Fort  Herkimer).  While  pastor  at  Stone 
Arabia  Rosencrantz  received  £70  annually  as  his  salary,  Canajoharie  ^Trk  {r 
and  German  Flatts  also  paying  a  similar  amount  (in  all  $525). 

In  the  period  including  the  war  of  the  Revolution  there  seems 
to  be  no  record  of  any  settled  pastor  or  regular  supply,  the  Rev. 
John  Daniel  Gros  and  the  Rev.  Rosencrantz  occasionally  serving  the 
church.  The  church  records  show  this.  The  Rev.  John  Daniel  Gros, 
once  a  New  York  city  pastor,  also  for  a  while  professor  at  Columbia 
College,  was  an  unusually  well  learned  man  for  the  time.  He  was  an 
ardent  patriot  and  served  as  chaplain  in  three  different  regiments. 
The  last  few  years  of  his  life  (1802-1812)  were  spent  in  the  vicinity 
of  Fort  Plain  on  a  farm,  and  he  lies  buried  at  Freysbush  in  this 
county.  There  are  no  records  of  baptisms  or  marriages,  or  even  of 
consistory  after  1771  thro  1776  tho  very  likely  the  former  records 
were  made,  especially  by  Rosencrantz  in  the  German  Flatts  register. 
For  a  decade  after  this  the  history  of  the  church  is  unknown.  The 
Battle  of  Stone  Arabia,  occurring  near  the  church  (October  19j  1780) 
is  treated  of  in   the   Notes.     The  Johnsons   and   Butlers   and    Brants 

93 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

were  raging  the  country  with  the  help  of  the  Indians.  The  1779  raid 
was  a  cruel  one  but  the  1780  devastation  was  inhumanly  brutal.  In 
the  Reformed  church  cemetery  is  a  monument  erected  in  1836  to  the 
memory  of  Col.  John  Brown  who  lost  his  life  in  the  Battle  of  Stone 
Arabia.  It  ought  to  be  a  patriotic  shrine  to  which  we  might  make 
regular  pilgrimages  in  remembrance  of  the  price  paid  by  our 
forefathers  for  liberty  and  justice.  The  present  stone  church 
was  erected  in  1788  by  Philip  Schuyler,  the  sixth  son  of  the  first  re- 
corded pastor  of  the  church.  The  consistory  at  the  time  was  John 
Ziellj',  Jacob  Eacker,  Arnout  Vedder  and  Johannes  Koch,  elders,  and 
Frederick  Gettman,  Adam  Loucks,  Casper  Cook,  and  Michael  Ehle, 
deacons.  The  history  of  the  church  from  this  time  on  is  more  definite. 
At  the  completion  of  the  building  Rev.  D.  C  .A.  Pick  came  to  the 
work.  He,  later,  served  German  Flatts  (cf).  He  remained  at  Stone 
Arabia  for  ten  years.  In  1795  the  church  gave  five  acres  of  land  to 
the  Union  Academy  of  Palatine.  A  two  story  frame  building  was 
erected  opposite  the  church  in  1799.  Maj.  Andrew  Finck  was  behind 
this  project.  The  Legislature  was  about  to  establish  several  new 
seats  of  learning  and  this  was  to  be  one  of  them.  However,  Finck's 
neighbors  vehemently  objected  to  the  school,  saying  that  "too  much 
learning  made  bad  farmers."  The  title  to  the  land  was  questioned, 
the  administration  was  sued,  and  Finck  was  forced  to  yield.  Later 
Finck  gave  the  land  for  the  Fairfield  Seminary  in  Herkimer  county, 
for  which  school  in  1814,  $5,000  was  raised  by  lottery.  This  was 
burned  in  1806  and  the  school  given  up. 

Pick  was  a  great  orator,  likened  by  some  to  Martin  Luther, 
and  crowds  waited  upon  his  preaching.  He  was  suspended 
from  the  ministry  about  1800.  In  1802  on  a  visit  to  New  York  cily, 
he  dropped  dead  on  the  street.  During  this  pastorate  the  church  con- 
nected itself  (January  20,  1790)  with  the  Classis  of  Albany,  and  on 
May  31,  1791,  it  was  incorporated  as  the  "Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
Church  of  Stone  Arabia."  An  inventory  of  church  property  filed  at 
Fonda,  January  3,  1794  is  signed  by  D.  C.  A.  Pick,  V.  D.  M.,  Adam 
Loucks,  Hendrick  Loucks,  Frederick  Gettman  (elders),  and  Jacob 
Snell,  Christian  Finck,  Nicholas  Van  Slyck  and  John  H.  Van  Wie, 
deacons.  In  1797  a  parsonage  was  built.  For  eight  years  or  not  until 
1788,  when  this  church  was  erected  during  Pick's  pastorate  at  a  cost 
of  $3,378,  the  people  had  no  other  place  of  worship,  except  a 
temporary  frame  structure.  Sir  John  Johnson  with  Captains  Thomas 
and  Brant  came  from  Montreal  by  way  of  Oswego  with  their  hired 
Indians  and  after  devastating  Schoharie  reached  Fort  Hunter  October 
17,  1780,  and  proceeded  west,  destroying  every  building  as  far  as  Fort 
Plain,  including  Caughnawaga.  From  Keder's  Rift  (Sprakers),  150 
men  attacked  Fort  Paris,  the  stockaded  store  of  Isaac  Paris  (tortured 
to  death  by  the  Indians  at  Oriskany  in  1777)  and  burned  the  Dutch 
and  Lutheran  churches.  The  Dutch  church  burned  was  erected  in 
1738.  The  Lutherans  rebuilt  theirs,  the  present  structure,  in  1792, 
Rev.  Dr.  Philip  T.   Gros  preaching  the  dedication  sermon. 

Rev.  Isaac  Labagh  came  to  this  church  from  Kinderhook  in  1800, 
and  remained  three  years,  preaching  in  German  Low  Dutch  and 
English.  While  pastor  here  he  also  preached  in  the  Reformed  Cal- 
vinist  church  of  Minden  (Canajoharie  having  been  divided)  and, oc- 
casionally at  Sharon  (•N-e*v  Rhin-&beek-),  Schoharie  county,  to  which 
place  he  went  in  November,  1803.     hi   184-J7--4rr--rg4«aHhed--trj~rh-c  valley 

94 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

tmd-  spent  a  few  monthc  at  U-fciea-.  He  died  July  4,  1837.  It  is  re- 
corded that  John  Dockstader  of  Stone  Arabia  was  paid  seven  shillings 
for  bringing  up  the  minister's  wagon  from  Kinderhook  in  1803.  Rev. 
John  Taylor  in  his  Journal  of  1802  writes  that  he  visited  Stone  Arabia 
and  found  Dr.  Grotz  (Gros)  in  the  Lutheran  church  and  Rev.  Lubauch 
(Labagh)  in  the  Dutch  Reformed  church.  He  spells  the  name  "Stone- 
rabia,"  and  adds  that  the  Dutch  pronounce  the  last  word  as  if  spelled 
"robby."  The  longest  pastorate  in  the  church  was  that  of  Rev.  John 
J.  Wack,  extending  thro  nearly  a  quarter-century  from  1805,  the  year 
ui-h+s-ea4i,  tho  during  most  of  these  years  Mr.  Wack  was  not  in  good 
standing  in  the  Classis.  The  Minutes  of  Albany  Particular  Synod 
(1817)  refer  in  detail  to  the  trouble,  Among  the  officers  at  this  time 
were,  Elders  Thomas  Getman,  Lutwig  Rickert,  John  P.  Grames,  Wm. 
Smith,  Jacob  Snell,  David  I.  Zieley,  Adam  Lipe,  Peter  G.  Getman,  and 
Deacons  Jacob  I.  Eacker,  John  Gray,  Richard  Luts,  and  Christopher 
C.  Fox.  He  also  supplied  the  Tillaborough  field,  and  for  a  few  years, 
also,  the  church  at  Ephratah.  His  life  and  work  is  spoken  of  in  detail 
in  the  record  of  the  "Sand  Hill"  church  of  the  extinct  churches.  On 
his  death,  May  26,  1851,  Wack  was  at  first  buried  in  the  church  hill 
cemetery  at  Ephratah,  but  later  the  body  was  reinterred  at  Fort  Plain. 
The  Rev.  Isaac  S.  Ketchum  was  graduated  from  New  Brunswick  in 
1821  and  entered  at  once  upon  his  ministry  in  this  community,  serving 
at  Manheim  (cf),  Danube  (Indian  Castle),  Salisbury  and  Stone  Arabia 
from  1822  thro  1830.  He  also  occasionally  preached  at  the  Columbia, 
Second  Herkimer,  and  Remsen  Snyder's  Bush  Churches,  and  from 
1829  thro  1836  he  preached  at  Ephratah  in  connection  with  Stone 
Arabia.  Ketchum  was  an  intimate  friend  of  President  Martin  Van 
Buren,  who  commissioned  him  to  remove  some  Indian  tribes  beyond 
the  Mississippi  and  received  the  thanks  of  Van  Buren  for  his  success- 
ful work.  He  spent  the  closing  years  of  his  life  on  a  farm  near  St. 
Louis,  and  died  in  1863,  aged  67  years. 

Rev.  Benjamin  B.  Westfall  came  to  Stone  Arabia  in  1838  and  re- 
mained about  seven  years,  or  until  the  time  of  his  death,  which  oc- 
curred in  1844  at  the  age  of  46.  Westfall  was  brot  up  on  a  Columbia 
county  farm.  In  a  nine  years'  work  in  Ulster  county  300  were  added 
to  the  church,  and  it  was  in  the  midst  of  a  great  revival  here  in  Stone 
Arabia  that  Ketchum  contracted  a  disease  that  ended  his  life.  This 
man's  soul  travailed  in  birth  for  his  people,  that  Christ  might  be 
formed  in  them,  the  hope  of  glory.  During  Westfall's  pastorate  the 
church  was  repaired  and  a  bell  bot,  all  costing  $2,000.  He  died  in 
Stone  Arabia  in  1844,  as  the  tablet  on  the  wall  tells,  and  lies  buried 
beneath  the  pulpit.  The  bell  bot  in  1839,  cost  $355,  the  repairs,  be- 
side a  complete  renovation,  including  the  closing  of  the  east  door,  a 
window  being  substituted,  the  raising  of  the  floor,  change  of  seats,  a 
new  pulpit  built,  arch  overhead  filled  in,  gallery  at  front  partitioned 
off,  the  steeple  tinned  and  weather  vane  purchased,  and  belfry  blinds 
put  on.  The  membership  at  this  time  was  241,  and  in  1840  the  report 
to  Classis  was  most  gratifying.  When  the  next  renovation  comes  to 
the  old  Stone  Arabia  Reformed  Dutch  church  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
those  who  have  it  in  charge  will  endeavor  to  reinstate  the  old  pulpit, 
still  extant,  and  bring  back  the  interior  to  its  old  time  beauty  and 
symmetry.  Charles  Jukes  had  a  seven  year  pastorate  at  Stone  Arabia 
(1844-1850),  beginning  in  1844.  He  was  an  Englishman  by  birth, 
coming    to    America    in    1830    and    serving    Presbyterian    churches    in 

95 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Saratoga  county  and  at  Amsterdam.  He  came  to  this  church  from 
the  Glen  Reformed  church  (cf).  His  last  pastorate  was  at  Rotterdam, 
Schenectady  county,  where  he  died  in  1862.  Some  of  his  descendants 
live  in  Fulton  county.  John  Cannon  Van  Liew  was  40  when  he  came 
to  this  church  in  1851,  remaining  nearly  six  years.  He  had  another 
short  pastorate  at  Berne  (Albany  county)  and  died  in  1861  at  the 
age  of  51.  During  the  years  1857  and  1858  the  Rev.  Nanning  Bo- 
gardus,  who  spent  some  ten  years  in  the  Classis  at  Fort  Plain  and 
Sprakers,  was  a  stated  supply.  Mr.  Bogardus'  last  pastorate  was  at 
Sprakers  and  he  died  in  1868.  The  only  record  of  this  ministry  is  to 
be  found  in  a  salary  receipt.  Other  supplies  in  1858  and  1859  were 
the  Rev.  Philip  Furbeck,  at  the  time  pastor  at  Fonda  (cf),  and  the 
Rev.  G.  M.  Blodgett  of  whom  we  know  nothing  further.  In  1859  the 
present  parsonage  was  built  at  a  cost  of  $1,337. 

After  an  interim  in  the  pastorate  of  some  five  years,  the  Rev. 
Lawrence  H.  Van  Dyck  was  called  to  the  church  in  1861.  There 
were  85  families  and  103  members  in  the  church  in  1862.  He  had 
ministered  to  Presbyterian  churches  since  graduation  at  Auburn  in 
1833,  and  for  about  15  years  at  Gilboa  and  Helderburg,  and  at  Bloom- 
ing Grove  for  5  or  6  years  before  entering  this  field.  Leaving  here 
in  1867  he  had  a  pastorate  in  Unionville,  N.  Y.,  next  going  to  New 
Brunswick,  N.  J.,  in  1876,  to  become  rector  of  Herzog  Hall.  He  died 
in  Brooklyn  January  24,  1893,  at  the  age  of  86.  Van  Dycke  was  a 
most  devoted  pastor,  his  whole  life  an  illustration  of  the  Master's 
spirit  and  service.  He  wrote  a  history  of  the  Montgomery  County 
Bible  society  in  1867.  His  wife  was  Christina  Hoes  of 
Kinderhook,  sister  of  Rev.  J.  C.  F.  Hoes  (cf  Ithaca).  A 
brother,  Rev.  C.  V.  A.  Van  Dyck  was  the  noted  Syrian  scholar, 
and  a  sister,  Jane  Elizabeth,  married  Rev.  Dr.  T.  W.  Wells. 
The  Rev.  James  Murphy  Compton  spent  nearly  thirty  years 
laboring  in  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  principally  in  the 
churches  of  Currytown,  Mapletown,  Columbia,  Henderson  and  Sprak- 
ers (cf).  His  pastorate  here  and  at  Ephratah  extended  over  four 
years  from  April,  1868.  He  died  while  pastor  of  the  Columbia  church 
December  12,  1891,  and  lies  buried  in  that  church  cemetery.  William 
B.  Van  Benschoten,  after  two  pastorates  in  New  Jersey  of  four  years 
each,  came  to  this  church  in  1872  (also  preaching  at  Ephratah  and 
labored  here  until  he  died  in  1880  at  the  age  of  forty-five.  During  the 
last  year  of  his  pastorate  the  church  and  parsonage  were  repaired 
at  a  cost  of  $2,000.  Prominent  among  the  workers  of  this  period  were 
Conrad  P.  Snell,  Henry  Gramps,  John  Kilts,  Reuben  Graff,  Erwin 
Vosburgh,  Aurora  Failing,  Charles  Loucks,  Johannes  Hess  and  Harri- 
son  Brown. 

The  Rev.  Rufus  M.  Stanbrough  was  graduated  from  New  Bruns- 
wick in  1861  and  at  once  took  up  the  work  at  Manheim  (cf),  also 
supplying  Indian  Castle.  He  came  to  Stone  Arabia  in  1881  from  a 
five  years  pastorate  at  Columbia  (Herkimer  county),  remaining  here 
for  about  five  years.  His  next  and  only  other  charge  was  at  West 
Hurley,  N.  Y.  He  exhibited  an  indomitable  energy  in  his  arduous 
ministry  and  was  the  personification  of  patience,  faith  and  devotion. 
He  died  in  1894,  at  the  age  of  72.  During  Stanbrough's  pastorate 
(1883)  the  organ  was  bot  at  a  cost  of  $400.  Occasionally  services 
were  held  during  the  years  1886  and  1887.  The  Revs.  P.  H.  Bariler 
(cf  Manheim),   F.   S.   Haines   (cf  Canajoharie)   and  Jas.   Demarest    (cf 

96 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Fort  Plain)  filling  the  pulpit,  the  summer  months  being  filled  by 
Frederick  L.  Luce,  a  seminary  student.  The  Rev.  John  A.  Thomson 
on  graduation  from  New  Brunswick  in  1887  assumed  the  pastorate  in 
connection  with  Sprakers  and  remained  nearly  five  years.  At  this  time 
forty  families  were  reported  and  seventy  members.  In  the  few  years 
after  leaving  this  field,  Mr.  Thomson  served  Sprakers  (cf)  and  Maple- 
town,  and  a  mission  at  East  Palatine.  Since  1902  he  has  had  a  pas- 
torate at  Middlebush,  N.  J.  During  Mr.  Thomson's  pastorate  the 
centennial  of  the  construction  of  this  church  was  observed. 
The  morning  program  included  a  sermon  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
DeBaun  of  Fonda,  and  an  historical  address  by  S.  L.  Frey  of  Pala- 
tine Bridge.  In  the  afternoon,  dinner  having  been  served,  addresses 
were  delivered  by  Edward  F.  Jones  of  Binghamton,  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  New  York,  A.  T.  Worden,  Senator  Arkell  and  the  Rev. 
J.  W.  Compton  (pastor  1868-1871).  After  Mr.  Thomson's  pastorate 
the  church  had  no  regular  ministry  for  another  five  years,  or  until  the 
Rev.  Charles  L.  Palmer  came  in  1897.  Richard  Van  Benskor,  a 
student,  supplied  occasionally  in  1895,  as  did  also  Rev.  Joel  A.  Loucks, 
a  licentiate  of  Montgomery  Classis,  Isaac  Messier,  superintendent  of 
the  Kentucky  mission  work  since  1905,  preached  here  during  the 
summer  of  1896.  The  Rev.  Charles  L.  Palmer  became  pastor  in  1897, 
also  serving  the  Ephratah  church  for  three  years,  and  since  1903-1914 
was  pastor  of  a  Reformed  church  at  Kingston.  During  this  pastorate 
the  church  was  again  incorporated  (May,  1899)  and  the  Bible  now  in 
use  was  given  by  the  Social  union.  Rev.  Palmer  is  now  at  Marlboro, 
N.  J.  Since  the  year  1900  and  until  June,  1914,  there  was  no  settled 
pastor  or  stated  supply,  of  the  church,  regular  services  having  been 
held  only  during  the  three  summer  months  of  each  year.  Only  sum- 
mer work  by  students  has  been  undertaken  during  these  years.  A. 
C.  V.  Dangremond,  now  of  College  Point,  L.  I.,  was  here  in  1900  and 
1901,  and  in  1902  and  1903  Garret  Hondelink,  now  at  Kalamazoo, 
Mich,  supplied.  For  four  years  following  no  services  were  held  in 
the  church.  In  1908  R.  A.  Stout  preached  during  the  summer.  In 
1909  Rev.  E.  J.  Meeker,  now  at  Lodi,  supplied  the  pulpit  for  several 
months.  Anthony  L.  Ver  Hulst  supplied  during  the  summer  of  1910, 
and  for  three  summers  R.  A.  Stanton,  '14  of  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary  at  Holland,  Mich.,  was  the  supply.  In  June,  1914,  Mr. 
Stanton  was  ordained  by  the  Montgomery  Classis  and  installed  over 
the  Ephratah  (cf)  and  Stone  Arabia  churches.  The  present  con- 
sistory is  Harvey  Gramps  and  John  C.  Kilts,  elders,  and  Wm.  Kent, 
Adelbert  Laning  and   Chas.  Vosburgh,  deacons. 


97 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

SYRACUSE:  FIRST  REFORMED  CHURCH 


£':.  ft'      >»  V 

•:-.  is'.,  i 


Ifli 


The  First  Re- 
formed (Dutch) 
church  of  Syra- 
cuse was  organ- 
izedby  the  Classis 
of  Cayuga  on 
March  10,  1848, 
the  same  year 
that  Syracuse  ob- 
tained its  first 
charter,  and  was 
incorporated 
March  25,  1848. 
A.  mong  the  ori- 
ginal members 
both  Salina  and 
Syracuse  (joined 
by  the  charter) 
were  represented, 
while  others 
came  from  the 
Dutch  churches 
of  Chittenango 
and  Geneva,  and 
a  few  from  the 
First    and    Park 

Presbyterian  churches  of  Syracuse.  The  services  at  the  very  be- 
ginning were  held  in  Market  Hall  where  the  magnificent  City  Hall 
now  stands.  The  services,  however,  were  transferred  to  a  frame 
chapel  which  had  previously  been  used  by  the  Baptists,  Congrega- 
tionalists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  and  Unitarians.  Here  the  Re- 
formed congregation  worshipped  for  two  years.  In  1850  the  church 
bot  its  present  site  and  built  a  fine  frame  edifice  which  served  them 
until  February,  1878,  when  the  church  was  burned.  The  original  site 
and  church  cost  $16,000.  W.  B.  Van  Wagenen  and  B.  C.  Vroraan, 
elders,  and  Peter  Burns  and  S.  V.  A.  Featherly,  deacons,  made  up 
the  first  consistory.  After  the  burning  of  the  church,  plans  were 
set  on  foot  for  rebuilding,  with  the  result  that  the  present  beautiful 
and  enduring  stone  church  was  dedicated  in  February,  1881.  This 
church  cost  $60,000.  At  first  the  church  was  in  the  Cayuga  Classis,. 
but  was  transferred  to  Montgomery  in  1889.  Rev.  James  H.  Cornell 
was  the  first  pastor  (1848-1851),  installed  November  9,  1848.  His 
father  was  Rev.  John  Cornell  a  student  of  Livingston,  his  mother 
being  Maria  Frelinghuysen,  daughter  of  Gen.  Frederick  Freling- 
huysen.  After  leaving  Syracuse  he  had  short  pastorates  at  Raritan, 
N.  J.,  and  Coeymans,  N.  Y.,  spending  his  last  years  in  this  latter  place. 
He  died  in  1899.  Dr.  Cornell  is  best  remembered  by  the  church  at 
large  as  a  good  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  as  well  for  his 
personal  efforts  and  gifts  which  increased  the  Seminary  endowment 
at  New  Brunswick  for  upwards  of  half  a  million  of  dollars.  It  -was 
during  Cornell's  pastorate  that  the  first  church  was  built,  being  dedi- 
cated  July   16,    1850.      In    May,    1851,   the    consistory   unanimously   re- 


98 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

solved  to  approve  the  action  of  the  Classis  of  Cayuga  which  had 
officially  and  solemnly  decreed  that  every  minister  that  joined  their 
body  should  thereby  attain  the  degree  of  "Doctor  of  Divinity."  Rev. 
J.  Romeyn  Berry  followed  Dr.  Cornell  (1851-1857).  At  this  time  the 
church  reported  a  hundred  and  twenty  members  and  at  the  close  of 
his  ministry  a  hundred  and  forty-nine.  Dr.  Berry  was  President 
of  General  Synod  in  1890.  He  was  a  grandson  of  Rev.  J.  V.  C. 
Romeyn  and  a  great  grandson  of  Rev.  Thomas  Romeyn(  cf  Fonda), 
whose  four  sons  were  in  the  Reformed  church  ministry.  Dr.  Berry 
had  several  pastorates  after  leaving  Syracuse,  including  one  of  eighteen 
years  in  the  Montclair,  N.  J.  Presbyterian  church.  His  last  charge 
was  at  Rhinebeck  where  he  died  in  1890.  Following  Dr.  Berry,  Prof. 
J.  B.  Condit  of  the  Seminary  at  Auburn,  supplied  for  a  while.  Rev.  T. 
DeWitt  Talmage  came  to  the  Syracuse  church  in  1859  from  his  first 
charge  at  Belleville,  N.  J.  and  remained  thro  the  larger  part  of  1862. 
General  Synod  met  in  the  church  in  1861,  and  again  in  1885.  From 
Syracuse  Dr.  Talmage  went  to  the  Second  church  of  Philadelphia  for 
an  eight  year  pastorate.  The  church  had  called  him  the  year  previous- 
ly but  he  postponed  going  for  a  year.  In  1869  he  became  the  pastor 
of  the  Central  Presbyterian  church  of  Brooklyn,  which  church  in 
1870  became  the  "Brooklyn  Tabernacle."  Here  he  was  pastor  until 
1894  when  he  went  to  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Washington,  D.  C. 
He  died  in  1902  in  this  pastorate.  He  was  a  preacher  of  world-wide 
reputation  and  influence.  The  late  Rev.  Frank  Talmage  was  his  son. 
Rev.  Joachim  Elmendorf,  who  had  already  served  the  Reformed 
churches  of  Ithaca  and  Saugerties,  was  called  to  the  church  in  1862, 
and  resigned  in  1865.  Leaving  Syracuse  Dr.  Elmendorf  became  the 
pastor  of  the  Second  Church  of  Albany  (1865-1872)  and  later  of  the 
Second  Church  of  PoughkeepjJe(1872-1886),  leaving  in  the  latter 
year  to  enter  the  Harlem  /^ga$Bgla^H3hurch  of  New  York  City  in 
which  pastorate  he  died  in  1908.  Dr.  Elmendorf  was  Press  Agent  of 
General  Synod  in  1872  and  was  a  Rutgers  trustee  for  nearly  forty 
years.  Rev.  Jeremiah  Searle  was  the  succeeding  pastor  (1866-1869), 
whose  father  of  the  same  name,  studied  theology  under  Prof.  Yates 
of  Union  College  while  pursuing  a  course  there  and  whose  brother, 
Rev.  S.  T.  Searle,  was  the  father  of  Rev.  Dr.  J.  Preston  Searle,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Faculty  of  New-  Brunswick  Seminary.  Leaving  Syracuse 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Searle  became  the  pastor  of  the  Calvary  Presbyterian 
church  of  Newburgh  in  1873,  and  served  this  church  for  forty  years, 
or  until  1913,  when  he  died.  In  the  interim  of  the  pastorate  the  pulpit 
was  again  supplied  by  Prof.  Condit  of  Auburn  Seminary.  Rev. 
Martin  Luther  Berger  was  the  sixth  pastor  of  the  Syracuse  church, 
during  whose  time  some  two  hundred  were  added  to  the  membership. 
At  the  close  of  a  seven  year's  work  (1869-1875)  he  entered  the  Pres- 
byterian church  at  San  Francisco.  He  died  in  1910.  Prof.  W.  P. 
Coddington  of  Syracuse  University  supplied  the  pulpit  until  the  com- 
ing to  the  field  of  Rev.  Evert  Van  Slyke  who  was  called  in  July, 
1876,  and  remained  nine  years.  It  was  during  his  pastorate  that  the 
church  was  burned,  February  3,  1878,  and  the  new  present  stone 
structure  erected.  Dr.  Van  Slyke  left  in  April,  1885,  and  had  later 
pastorates  in  Catskill  and  Brooklyn.  He  died  in  1909.  The  church 
had  no  settled  pastor  now  for  about  three  years.  Rev.  Dr.  Codding- 
ton of  Syracuse  University  supplied  the  pulpit  thro  1886-1888  when 
Rev.  H.  D.  B.  Mulford  of  Franklin  Park,  N.  J.  was  called  and  came 

99 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

in  1889.  He  remained  until  1897.  During  his  pastorate  and  thro  the 
efforts  of  his  Christian  Endeavor  Society  the  Second  Church  of 
Syracuse  was  organized  in  1895.  Two  hundred  and  twenty  additions 
to  the  church  membership  are  recorded  during  Rev.  Mulford's  pas- 
torate. Mr.  Mulford  next  went  to  Rutgers  as  Professor  of  English. 
In  1912  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  Upper  Red  Hook  Reformed 
church.  In  November,  1897,  Rev.  Dr.  Philip  H  .Cole  became  the 
pastor  and  remained  ten  years.  Dr.  Cole  has  been  pastor  since 
leaving  Syracuse  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Rome.  Follow- 
ing Dr.  Cole  came  Rev.  Dr.  John  F.  Dobbs  (November,  1908)  of  Mott 
Haven,  who  remained  until  May,  1915,  when  he  was  dismissed  to 
the  Woburn  (Mass.)  Congregational  Conference.  Rev.  Ulysses  Grant 
Warren  succeeded  Dr.  Dobbs,  coming  to  the  church  from  the  Brook- 
lyn Congregationalists  in  September,  1915.  Hon.  Nathan  F.  Graves, 
who  endowed  a  Missionary  Lectureship  at  the  Syracuse  University  and 
another  at  New  Brunswick,  was  a  member  of  this  church,  and  one 
of  its  officers  for  many  years.  Rev.  Maltbie  D.  Babcock  and  Rev. 
Willard  King  Spencer  (Auburn  '79)   were  also  in  membership  here. 


SYRACUSE:  SECOND  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  Second  Re- 
formed church  of  Syra- 
cuse was  organized 
May  27,  1895,  begin- 
ning with  a  charter 
membership  of  twenty- 
seven.  The  church  was 
the  direct  outgrowth  of 
a  Sunday  School  work 
which  had  been  carried 
on  for  some  months  by 
the  young  people  of  the 
First  Reformed  church 
while  Rev.  H.  D.  B. 
Mulford  was  the  pas- 
tor. The  first  pastor  called  to  the  field  was  Rev.  Charles  Maar,  who 
after  two  years  at  New  Brunswick,  took  a  third  year  at  Auburn 
Seminary,  and  on  his  graduation  in  1892,  was  ordained  by  Montgom- 
ery Classis  and  installed  over  the  church  at  Owasco  Outlet.  After 
a  second  pastorate  at  Cobleskill,  Rev.  Mr.  Maar  took  up  the  work  at 
Second  Syracuse  in  October,  1895,  remaining  until  May,  1899.  After  pas- 
torates at  Upper  Red  Hook  and  Walkill,  Mr.  Maar  entered  the  employ 
of  the  State  at  Albany,  where  he  now  resides.  Within  a  short  time 
the  church  called  Charles  G.  Mallery  who  took  up  the  work  of  his 
first  pastorate  on  graduation  from  New  Brunswick  in  1899  and  was 
ordained  and  installed  over  the  church  by  the  Classis.  During  his 
pastorate  sixty-four  were  received  into  the  church,  the  building  erect- 
ed, and  the  work  progressed.  Mr.  Mallery  resigned  in  1904,  going 
to  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.  from  which  field  he  went  to  Bedminster,  N.  J. 
in  1914.  Rev.  Peter  Edwin  Huyler,  a  graduate  of  Auburn,  next  took 
up  the  work  at  Second  Syracuse  in  the  early  summer  of  1905,  and 
resigned  in  September,  1914,  to  follow  Mr.  Mallery  in  the   Rhinebeck 


100 


HISTORY   OF  .MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

church.  Rev.  Alexander  S.  Van  Dyck  came  to  the  pastorate  from 
Philmont  in  January,  1915.  He  had  served  the  denomination  for 
twelve  years  in  the  foreign  missionary  work  at  Amoy,  China.  The 
Second  Reformed  church  of  Syracuse  is  in  a  fine  field,  a  favored  and 
growing  residential  section  of  the  city,  and  is  coming  into  its  own 
in  the  influence  upon  the  community.  The  first  consistory  of  the 
church  was  made  up  of  Elders  John  Boyd,  and  F.  G.  K.  Betts,  and 
Deacons  E.  F.  Hammeken  and  Alexander  Gee.  The  present  con- 
sistory is  composed  of  Elders  W.  A.  Boyd,  E.  F.  Hammeken,  N.  W. 
King,  and  H.  H.  Snyder,  and  Deacons  E.  E.  Hull,  C.  W.  Taylor, 
Oscar  Hauptli,  and  G.  C.  Hutchings. 

THOUSAND  ISLES  REFORMED  CHURCH 


Probably  the  first 
white  man  to  gaze  on 
the  beauty  of  the  Lake 
of  the  Thousand  Isles 
was  Samuel  de  Cham- 
plain,  the  founder  of 
New  France,  who,  in 
1615,  took  part  in  an 
expedition  against  the 
Iroquois.  After  him  the 
first  man  of  note  was 
Father  LeMoyne,  the 
Jesuit  priest  while  on 
his  journey  to  the  On- 
ondagas  in  the  summer 
of  1654.  After  Le- 
Moyne came  LaSalle,  Frontenac,  De  La  Barre,  La  Hontan,  Hennepin, 
Charlevoix,  et  al.  This  church  is  in  Jefferson  county  (called  after 
Thomas  Jefferson)  at  Alexandria  Bay  (named  after  Alexander  Le  Ray, 
son  of  the  proprietor  of  the  tract).  The  site  for  the  church  and  par- 
sonage was  given  by  Francis  DePeau.  "The  Church  of  the  Thousand 
Isles"  is  the  corporate  and  euphonious  name  of  this  Reformed  church, 
which  owes  its  origin  to  the  indefatigable  labors  of  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune, 
the  noted  hymn  writer  and  at  one  time  the  pastor  of  our  Utica 
church  (cf).  While  pastor  of  the  old  Third  Church  of  Philadelphia 
(now  extinct)  Dr.  Bethune  made  annual  pilgrimages  to  the  "Thousand 
Isles,"  usually  preaching  on  Sundays  in  the  school  house  at  Alexan- 
dria Bay.  The  first  Sunday  school  in  the  town  was  soon  organized. 
Later  Dr.  Bethune  met  the  Rev.  Jerome  A.  Davenport,  and  sent  him 
to  the  field,  caring  for  him  largely  out  of  his  own  means,  with  no  thot 
whatever  of  a  church — just  a  sort  of  itinerant  preaching  at  the  Bay 
and  in  the  surrounding  communities.  But  Mr.  Davenport's  work  soon 
outgrew  the  little  stone  school  house,  and  compelled  a  church  building. 
Mr.  Davenport  went  to  Wisconsin  and  later  entered  the  Episcopal 
church.  After  two  years  spent  in  raising  funds,  a  church  was  built 
costing  $2,800,  while  in  the  following  year  a  manse  was  erected  which 
cost  $825.  The  first  consistory  of  the  church  was  Alvah  Ford,  elder, 
and  James  Wordworthy,  deacon.  The  first  pastor  of  the  church  was 
the  Rev.  Anson  DuBois,  who  came  in  1850  and  remained  four  years. 


101 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

He  had  just  graduated  from  the  Seminary  (New  Brunswick)  and 
spent  over  fifty  years  in  the  pulpit.  During  Mr.  DuBois'  ministry 
here  the  church  was  organized  in  1851,  reporting  to  the  Particular 
Synod  the  following  year.  Among  the  early  patrons  of  the  church, 
besides  Dr.  Bethune,  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  T.  Throop  Martin  of 
the  Owasco  Outlet  church,  who  largely  contributed  toward  its 
erection  and  John  G.  Holland  to  whom  a  memorial  tablet  was  erected. 
The  building  was  dedicated  in  August,  1851,  Dr.  Bethune  preaching 
the  sermon.  A  Presbyterian  church  in  Troy,  N.  Y.  gave  the  bell. 
Very  few  of  the  members  of  the  church  were  ever  before  connected 
with  the  denomination.  The  land  for  both  church  and  parsonage 
wwe^given  by  the  estate  of  Frances  DePeau. 

The  second  pastor  of  the  church  was  the  Rev.  George  Rockwell, 
who  staid  by  the  organization  for  twenty-three  years.  Relinquishing 
this  pastorate  owing  to  extreme  deafness  in  1877,  Mr.  Rockwell  spent 
some  time  in  Fulton,  N.  Y.  and  New  York  City,  going  for  residence 
finally  to  Tarrytown,  where  he  died  in  1897.  Rev.  De  Vries  came  to 
the  work  in  1877  and  remained  five  years.  Since  1884,  Mr.  De  Vries 
has  been  the  pastor  of  the  Peekskill,  N.  Y.  church.  Rev.  Dr.  Egbert 
C.  Lawrence  followed  De  Vries  in  1882  and  resigned  in  1886.  Mr. 
Lawrence  has  been  in  the  Presbyterian  ministry  for  many  years,  and 
has  been  spending  a  good  many  years  as  supply  to  vacant  churches, 
making  his  home  in  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  After  Dr.  Lawrence,  the 
Rev.  Charles  P.  Evans  supplied  the  church  for  a  couple  of  years.  He 
is  living  at  present  in  Watervliet.  Rev.  George  Z.  Collier  was  next 
on  the  field,  coming  in  1890  and  remaining  thro  a  part  of  1896.  Mr. 
Collier  is  now  serving  the  Middleburgh  church  in  the  Classis  of 
Schoharie.  Rev.  Isaac  J.  Van  Hee  came  to  the  field  from  the  Semin- 
ary (New  Brunswick)  in  1897,  being  ordained  by  the  Classis.  He  re- 
mained thro  1901  when  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Fultonville  church 
which  he  left  in  1905.  After  pastorates  at  North  Paterson  (N.  J.), 
Little  Falls  (N.  J.),  and  Pekin,  111.,  he  entered  the  Presbyterian 
church.  His  principal  task  for  some  years  has  been  in  social  work 
for  the   Ford  Auto   Co.  of  Detroit,   Mich. 

In  1901  the  church  called  Rev.  Charles  F.  Benjamin,  a  member 
of  that  year's  class  in  the  Seminary,  who  was  ordained  by  the  Mont- 
gomery Classis  and  installed  over  the  church,  and  is  its  present 
pastor.  The  present  consistory  consists  of  Norman  Hay,  Noris 
Houghton,  John  Betz,  C.  B.  Forsythe,  elders,  and  C.  W.  Cornwall, 
George  Russell,  J.  B.  Reid  and  Fred  Chayn,  deacons. 


102 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASS1S 

UTICA  REFORMED  CHURCH 


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Oneida  county,  in  which  Utica  is  situated  and  which  was  form- 
ed January  27,  1789,  was  the  home  of  the  Oneida  Indians,  the  only 
tribe  who  remained  friendly  to  the  colonists,  except  a  part  of  the 
Tuscaroras.  The  work  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland  among  them 
made  this  possible  (cf  Note  on  Indian  Education,  etc.).  The  earliest 
mention  of  Utica  is  in  the  Cosby  Manor  Patent,  dated  1734,  and,  again, 
in  the  itinerary  of  a  French  spy,  traveling  in  1757  from  Oswego  to 
Schenectady.  President  Dwight  of  Yale  passing  thro  Utica  in  1798, 
speaks  of  it  as  a  pretty  village  of  fifty  houses.  Reference  is  also 
made  to  it  in  the  "Story  of  Castorland."  The  Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  church  of  Utica  was  organized  in  1830.  The  first  church  organ- 
ized in  Oneida  county  was  by  the  Congregationalists  at  New  Hart- 
ford, the  Presbyterians  having  formed  one  later  (1786)  at  Whites- 
boro.  With  Reformed  churches  established  so  many  years  previously 
in  the  vicinity  of  Utica  it  is  a  cause  of  surprise  that  one  was  not  found- 
ed here  earlier.  Soon  after  1800  (Utica  was  incorporated  as  a  village 
in  1798),  a  number  of  Dutch  and  German  families  settled  at  Deer- 
field,  near  Utica.  The  pastor  at  German  Flatts,  Rev.  John  P.  Spin- 
ner, as  well  as  Rev.  Isaac  ,'Labagh  and  Rev.  John  F.  Schermerhorn, 
missionaries  of  the  Domestic  Board,  made  frequent  visits  to  this  field. 
The  preaching  was  in  the  German  and  Dutch  tongues,  the  services  be- 
ing held  at  first  in  the  Deerfield  Baptist  church,  then  the  old  Utica 
Methodist    meeting    house,    kindly    loaned    for    this    purpose.      Up    to 


103 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

1825  Mr.  Spinner  came  to  Utica  nearly  every  alternate  Sunday.  In 
the  Reformed  Church  Magazine  of  January  28,  1828,  is  an  account 
of  a  consistory  meeting  of  the  Collegiate  church,  New  York  City, 
held  at  the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Amsterdam  streets,  at  which  the 
matter  of  organizing  a  church  at  Utica  was  discussed.  Rev.  John 
Ludlow  of  the  First  Church,  Albany,  and  Secy.  Schermerhorn,  were 
the  men  who  urged  it.  It  was  shown  that  a  sum  of  $3,000  was  avail- 
able at  Utica,  and  a  lot  worth  $4,000.  The  Albany  church  had  prom- 
ised $3,000.  It  was  thot  that  $10,000  was  necessary  to  begin  the 
work.  We  do  not  know  the  results  of  this  meeting,  but  in  the  follow- 
ing years  plans  were  consummated  for  the  organization.  The  Broad 
Street  church  building  was  erected  in  1830,  and  dedicated  on  June 
3d.  It  cost  $15,000.  At  the  organization,  late  in  October,  there  were 
thirty-nine  members,  while  fifteen  more  united  at  the  first  communion. 
This  building  was  used  until  1866.  The  first  pastor  of  the  church  was 
Rev.  George  W.  Bethune,  who  remained  four  years.  He  was  in- 
stalled November  7,  1830,  and  preached  his  farewell  sermon  June 
29,  1834.  The  Utica  church  resulted  from  an  unusual  religious  con- 
dition in  the  city,  and  was  started  by  certain  men  and  women  of 
strong  Calvinistic  faith.  Rev.  Charles  G.  Finney  had  occupied  the 
pulpit  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  during  the  winter  of  1827. 
While  his  influence  was  powerful,  many  questioned  the  methods 
he  pursued,  while  they  regarded  much  of  the  preaching  as  un- 
scriptural.  But  rather  than  oppose  what  passed  in  those  days  for  a 
revival,  certain  persons,  principally  Scotch,  came  together  and  formed 
the  Utica  Dutch  church.  The  first  officers  were  Abraham  Varick  and 
George  M.  Weaver,  elders,  and  Nicholas  G.  Weaver  and  Richard 
Vaughan,  deacons. 

Dr.  Bethune  was  the  son  of  Divie  Bethune,  one  of  the  founders 
of  Princeton  Seminary,  a  publisher  and  distributor  of  free  tracts  and 
Bibles  years  before  the  founding  of  the  societies  for  this  purpose.  He 
was  born  March  18,  1805,  spent  three  years  at  Columbia,  and  gradu- 
ated at  Dickinson  College  (1823).  He  was  a  Princeton  Seminary 
graduate  of  1826.  His  first  work  was  among  the  colored  and  poor 
people,  and  the  sailors  at  Savannah,  Ga.  He  came  to  the  Utica  church 
from  Rhinebeck.  His  reasons  for  entering  the  ministry  of  the  Re- 
formed church,  briefly,  were  these,  "a  preference  for  her  order,  equally 
removed  from  the  democracy  of  Congregationalism,  the  monarchy  of 
Episcopacy,  and  the  oligarchy  of  Presbyterianism,  she  presents  in  her 
representative  government,  united  to  rotation  in  office,  the  purest 
republican  constitution."  He  wrote  that  "he  liked  her  liturgy,  de- 
lighted  in   her   sound   doctrine,   admired   her   spirit her   ministers 

were   a   band   of  brethren children   of  the   same   beloved   mother 

who  never  meet  but  with  joy,  and  never  part  but  with  tears  and 

mutual   benedictions, a   united,    respected,    influential   body 

and  they  shall  prosper  who  love  her."  Dr.  Bethune's  correspondence 
shows  the  marked  opposition  of  the  other  local  churches  to  the  Dutch 
church  at  its  organization,  which  was  continued  for  some  years.  In 
his  inaugural  sermon  we  hear  him  making  a  sort  of  apology  for  the 
denomination.  But  it  was  the  spirit  of  the  man  and  those  first  mem- 
bers who  won  the  day,  for  despite  all  scorn  and  ridicule,  the  Dutch 
church,  under  the  leadership  of  their  pastor,  made  a  name  and  fame 
for  itself.  When  the  cholera  visited  Ctica  in  1832,  Dr.  Bethune 
was  one  of  the  two  ministers  who  did  not  flee  the  city.      Indeed   he 

104 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

took  one  minister  into  his  home  and  nursed  him  back  to  life.  After 
pastorates  at  Philadelphia  and  Brooklyn,  he  went  to  the  21st  St. 
Church  of  New  York.  He  died  while  in  this  pastorate,  at  Florence, 
Italy,  April  28,  1862.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  church 
at  Alexandria  Bay  (cf).  He  gave  his  library  of  seven  hundred 
volumes  to  New  Brunswick  Seminary.  He  was  a  scholarly  man  of 
sweet,  rare  character,  whose  contributions  to  Christian  Hymnology 
constitute  one  of  his  chief  claims  to  remembrance.  President  James 
K.  Polk  urged  Dr.  Bethune  to  accept  the  chair  of  Moral  Philosophy 
at  West  Point,  but  he  felt  obliged  to  decline.  Later  he  was  selected 
to  succeed  Chancellor  Frelinghuysen  of  the  New  York  State  Uni- 
versity, but  this  honor  also  he  declined  to  accept.  A  handsome  marble 
mosaic  of  Dr.  Bethune,  once  in  the  Third  Church  of  Philadelphia,  is 
now  in  the  Sage  library  at  New  Brunswick. 

The  second  pastor  at  Utica  was  Rev.  Henry  Mandeville  (1834- 
1841).  He  was  born  in  Kinderhook,  and  was  a  professor  of  Moral 
Philosophy  at  Hamilton  College.  He  died  in  1858  while  pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  at  Mobile,  Ala.  Rev.  John  P.  Knox  was  the 
next  pastor,  coming  from  the  Nassau  Reformed  church  in  1841  and 
remaining  thro  1844.  He  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  later  and  died  June  2,  1882.  The  Rev.  Charles  Wiley  succeed- 
ed Dr.  Knox,  June  15,  1845,  and  remained  ten  years  (1845-1854).  Be- 
fore coming  to  Utica  he  had  been  pastor  of  the  Northampton  (Mass.) 
Congregational  church.  In  1849  the  church  had  225  members.  After 
leaving  Utica  he  became  the  President  of  the  Milwaukee  University, 
but  again  entered  the  active  ministry  and  was  pastor  in  the  Geneva 
church  in  1859.  He  edited  a  series  of  Latin  Classics  and  wrote  a 
volume  on  "Why  I  am  not  a  Churchman."  He  died  in  December, 
1878,  at  Orange,  N.  J.  The  fifth  pastor  at  Utica  was  the  Rev.  George 
H.  Fisher  (1855-1860),  who  became  one  of  the  great  preachers  of  the 
country.  For  six  years  he  was  secretary  of  the  Domestic  Missions 
Board.  He  died  in  1872  while  pastor  of  the  church  at  Hackensack, 
N.  J.  For  two  years  the  church  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Charles 
E.  Knox,  a  tutor  at  Hamilton  College,  and,  later  and  for  thirty  years 
President  of  the  Bloomfield  Theological  Seminary,  where  a  $65,000 
Knox  Hall  was  erected  in  1914  to  commemorate  his  work  there. 
When  Rev.  Dr.  Knox  was  asked  to  supply  the  pulpit  he  felt  that 
the  church  ought  to  move  up  town  and  consented  to  supply  on  con- 
dition that  he  be  permitted  to  raise  the  funds  necessary  to  build 
in  another  section  of  the  city.  He  raised  $17,000  for  this  purpose. 
The  Civil  War  provided  an  impediment  to  this  project,  but  Dr.  Knox's 
work  paved  the  way  for  his  successor  to  build.  He  died  April  30, 
1900.  Rev.  Ashbel  G.  Vermilye  succeeded  to  the  pastorate,  coming 
to  the  church  in  1863  and  leaving  in  1871,  to  become  the  pastor  of  the 
old  First  Dutch  church  in  Schenectady.  He  was  the  son  of  Rev. 
T.  E.  Vermilye,  at  the  time  the  senior  pastor  in  the  Collegiate  church, 
New  York  City.  He  was  born  at  Princeton,  N.  J.  in  1822.  Before 
coming  to  Utica  he  had  had  pastorates  at  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.  (Presby- 
terian) and  Newburyport,  Mass.  For  thirty  years  before  his  death 
in  1905,  Dr.  Vermilye  was  not  in  the  active  work,  much  of  the  time 
being  spent  abroad  and  in  literary  labors.  It  was  during  his  pastorate 
that  a  new  site  was  secured  for  the  church  at  the  corner  of  Genesee 
and  Cornelia  streets,  where  the  second  church  was  erected,  being 
dedicated   on    May   3,    1868.      This   building   was    burned    February    6, 

105 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

1881,  but  rebuilt  the  following  year.  When  Rev.  Dr.  Vermilye  went  to 
Schenectady  he  became  the  first  pastor  of  the  new  church,  the  fifth 
erected,  and  preached  his  first  sermon  there  on  the  day  of  its  dedi- 
cation, August  6,  1871. 

In  1871  Rev.  Isaac  N.  Hartley  was  installed  pastor  of  the  church 
and  remained  on  the  field  nearly  eighteen  years,  resigning  in  1889, 
to  enter  the  ministry  of  the  Episcopal  church.  He  died  while  rector 
at  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  in  1899.  In  1880  Dr.  Hartley  wrote  a 
semi-centennial  history  of  the  church.  Rev.  Oren  Root,  at  the  time 
Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Hamilton  College,  began  supplying  the 
pulpit  in  1890.  Later  he  was  called  to  the  pastorate  and  remained 
five  years  (1890-1894).  Rev.  Dr.  Root  (brother  of  U.  S.  Senator,  Elihu 
Root)  frequently  supplied  the  Utica  church  pulpit  when  there  were 
no  pastors.  He  died  August  20,  1907.  The  pastorate  of  Rev.  Peter 
Crispell  was  of  nine  years  duration  (1894-1902).  This  was  his  second 
charge,  his  first  being  at  Warwick,  N.  Y.  Leaving  Utica  he  went 
to  Montgomery.  In  1914  he  retired  from  active  work  and  is 
living  at  Newburgh.  For  some  years  the  church  seemed  to  be 
losing  its  grip  in  the  community,  but  in  the  hour  of  its  need,  at  the 
close  of  the  pastorate  of  Mr.  Crispell,  Rev.  Oren  Root  came  back 
to  it  with  generous  and  helpful  service,  and  with  the  aid  of  the  faith- 
ful few  (found  everywhere)  saved  the  church  to  the  denomination  and 
the  city,  and  prepared  the  way  for  the  coming  of  the  present  pastor, 
Rev.  Louis  H.  Holden,  who  was  installed  over  the  church  October,  1904. 
The  work  done  in  the  past  decade  has  strengthened  the  organization 
and  given  the  church  a  place  of  widespread  influence  in  the  religious 
life  in  the  city.  The  present  consistory  are,  Charles  W.  Weaver, 
Herbert  F.  Huntington,  Joseph  Hollingsworth,  Edward  Williams,  Roy 
D.  Barber,  elders,  and  Frederick  R.  Drury,  Floyd  E.  Ecker,  Newton 
B.  Hammon,  Allen  C.  Hutchinson,  and  Roy  C.  Van  DerBergh, 
deacons,  while  the  board  of  trustees  are,  Herbert  F.  Huntington,  Roy 
D.  Barber,  George  DeForest,  Newton  B.  Hammond,  Joseph  Hollings- 
worth, John  W.  MacLean,  and  Harry  W.  Roberts.  The  late  Vice- 
President  Sherman  was  for  years  a  trustee  of  this  church. 


# 


106 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

WEST  LEYDEN  REFORMED  CHURCH 


The  county  of  Lewis  in 
which  are  situated  the  West 
Leyden  and  Naumburgh 
churches  (as  was  also  the  New 
Bremen  church)  was  formed 
from  Oneida  county  March  28, 
1805  (Jefferson  county  being 
formed  the  same  day).  Alex- 
ander Macomb,  who  came 
from  Ireland  in  1742,  had  five 
sons  in  the  War  of  1812,  one 
of  whom  was  Maj.  Macomb  of 
Plattsburgh  fame.  On  June 
22,  1791,  Macomb  bought  near- 
ly all  the  land  in  Lewis  coun- 
ty, some  3,816,960  acres  (cf 
Naumburgh).  The  town  of 
Lewis  was  formed  November 
11,  1852.  West  Leyden  was 
first  settled  in  1789  by  two 
families  named  Newel  and  In- 
graham,  who  remained,  how- 
ever, but  a  few  years.  In  1799 
Col.  John  Barnes,  Joel  Jenks, 
from  Rhode  Island,  Medad  Dewey  and  John  and  Cornelius  Putman, 
from  Somers,  Ct,  settled  here.  Major  Alpheus  Pease  (dec.  1816) 
built  the  first  grist  mill  in  1802.  The  names  of  Hunt,  Tiffany,  Felshaw 
and  Pelton  are  among  the  earlier  settlers.  In  1831  ten  German 
families  came  to  West  Leyden.  The  first  church  formed  in  the 
village  was  a  Baptist  organization  in  1798.  Its  building  stood  where 
the  present  Union  church  is.  The  Congregationalists  formed  a 
church  in  1806,  Rev.  Nathaniel  Dutton  being  the  organizer.  Other 
ministers  of  this  church  were  Reuel  Kimball,  Amaziah  Clark,  Eli 
Hyde,  Calvin  Ingalls,  Jedutha  Higby,  and  Comfort  Williams.  In 
1826  the  congregation  joined  the  St.  Lawrence  Presbytery.  The 
building  stood  on  what  is  now  cemetery  ground.  On  August  16, 
1847,  the  St.  Paul's  Lutheran  and  Reformed  church  was  formed  of 
which  Frederick  Meyer,  Frederick  Schopfer  and  George  Tries  were 
the  trustees.  A  question  arising  in  18*5  concerning  the  matter  of 
worship  the  families  of  the  Reformed  persuasion  in  this  Union 
church  withdrew  and  organized  the  "Reformed  Protestant  Dutch 
church  of  West  Leyden."  This  was  September  17,  1856,  and  the 
first  trustees  were,  Philip  Rubel  and  Frederick  Meyer,  elders,  and 
Frederick  Schopfer  and  Valentine  Gleasman,  deacons.  Rev.  John 
Boehrer  came  to  the  church  as  its  first  pastor  soon  after  the  organiza- 
tion and  continued  with  it  until  1862.  Mr.  Boehrer  later  on  was 
pastor  of  the  nearby  churches  of  Naumburgh  and  New  Bremen. 
Leaving  Naumburgh  he  became  pastor  of  a  Buffalo  church  (1887- 
1897),  but  was  without  charge  from  1897  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
1913.  During  Boehrer's  pastorate  another  church  was  organized 
December  7,  1858  and  was  called  the  "United  German  Protestant 
Lutheran  and   Reformed   Congregation,"   in  which   Peter  Wolf,  Jacob 


107 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Roser,    Peter   Kantser,   George   Tries,   and   Heinrich   Roser   were   the 
trustees. 

Rev.  John  M.  Wagner  succeeded  Mr.  Boehrer  in  September, 
1862,  and  continued  the  work  thro  1864.  Wagner  was  from  the 
German  Palatinate  and  gave  his  best  efforts  for  the  German  churches 
he  served.  For  nearly  thirty  years  he  was  pastor  of  the  large  and 
influential  German  Evangelical  church  in  Brooklyn,  in  which  pas- 
torate he  died  January  21,  1894.  In  the  summer  of  1864  Rev.  Frederick 
E.  Schlieder  came  to  the  West  Leyden  church.  Mr.  Schlieder  was 
born  in  Germany.  Coming  to  this  country  he  was  graduated  at  New 
Brunswick,  and  in  1865  was  installed  over  the  church  here.  He  had 
two  pastorates  at  West  Leyden,  this  one  of  eight  3rears,  and  a  second, 
beginning  in  September,  1889,  and  continuing  for  eighteen  years,  or 
until  failing  health  compelled  him  to  relinquish  the  pulpit.  Alto- 
gether Mr.  Schlieder  served  the  West  Leyden  church  twenty-five 
years.  He  died  February  2,  1915.  His  son,  Rev.  Albert  Schlieder, 
is  pastor  of  the  First  Church  of  Hackensack,  N.  J.  Under  the 
shadows  of  the  old  West  Leyden  church  Mr.  Schlieder  spent  his 
last  days.  There  was  no  pastor  during  1873,  but  in  1874,  Rev.  Jacob 
Weber  became  the  minister  in  charge,  and  remained  with  the  people 
for  five  years.  Rev.  Henry  W.  Warnshuis  succeeded  Weber  but 
stayed  only  half  a  year.  After  leaving  West  Le}rden  he  went  west 
and  entered  the  Presbyterian  church  for  work  in  Dakota.  John  H. 
Reiner  was  the  next  pastor.  He  was  born  in  Russia,  of  Jewish 
extraction,  and  came  to  America  in  1880.  His  only  known  work  was 
this  pastorate  at  West  Leyden  (1881-1885)  and  another  at  Gallatin 
(1886-1887).  He  visited  the  West  Leyden  field  in  1912.  During 
Reiner's  pastorate  the  parsonage  was  built  and  the  Ladies'  Aid 
Society  organized.  It  was  also  in  his  time  that  a  division  occurred 
in  the  church,  and  the  faction  withdrawing  built  a  meeting  house 
in  1889,  supplied  since  by  the  Ava  Methodist  minister.  Following 
Reiner  came  Rev.  Henry  Freeh  (1885-1888),  tho  Rev.  S.  Kern  had 
supplied  the  pulpit  for  a  year  (March,  1885-March,  1886).  Nothing 
further  than  this  West  Leyden  work  is  known  of  either  of  these  men, 
except  that  before  coming  to  West.  Leyden,  Freeh  had  been  pastor 
for  four  years  of  the  German  church  (2nd)  of  Jamacia.  In  1889 
Rev.  Julius  J.  Keerl  supplied  the  pulpit  for  six  months  or  until  the 
return  of  Mr.  Schlieder.  In  June,  1908,  the  Rev.  George  S.  Bolsterle, 
recently  graduated  from  New  Brunswick,  was  ordained  by  the  Classis 
of  Montgomery  and  installed  over  the  West  Leyden  church.  Mr. 
Bolsterle  did  a  fine  work  of  reorganization  and  greatly  encouraged 
the  people  in  the  three  years  he  remained  with  them.  For  the  past 
three  years  the  church  has  been  supplied  during  the  summer  by  the 
seminary  students,  with  occasional  services  by  the  Classical  Mission- 
ary. Among  these  students  have  been  Stephen  W.  Ryder  of  New 
Brunswick  '13,  who  is  now  in  the  foreign  missionary  work  in  Japan, 
Bert  W.  Maass,  now  at  Schodack  Landing,  John  Putman  and 
Chauncey  Stevens  of  New  Brunswick  '16.  In  the  Fall  of  1914  Joseph 
M.  Spalt  began  a  lay  work  at  West  Leyden,  which  continued  for  a 
year. 


1C8 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


IReformeti  Ctjurcljes  5I?oto  QEetinct 

g        JFormerlp  attacfjcD  to  Classis         @ 


The  first  settlement  in  the  town  of  Amsterdam 
AMSTERDAM     (formerly   called   "Veddersburgh"or"Veedersburgh" 

was  by  the  widow  and  four  sons  of  Philip  Groat, 
at  a  place  just  opposite  to  where  Cranesville  is  now  (cf).  Originally, 
Amsterdam,  Johnstown,  New  Broadalbin  and  Mayfield  were  in  a  sort 
of  square,  and  formed  the  ancient  town  of  Caughnawaga.  At  first 
this  part  of  the  town  was  called  Veddersburg  or,  Vedder's  Mills, 
named  after  William  Vedder,  who,  with  his  family,  moved  here  from 
Johnstown  in  1776.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Lucas  Vetter  (spelled 
also  Vader,  Feeter,  Veeder)  who  died  at  Derdinger,  southwest  Ger- 
many so  long  ago  as  1483.  (Koetteritz:  "Feeter  Family").  Others  give 
Albert  Vedder  of  Holland  descent  as  the  founder.  He  was  the  first 
tenant  of  Fort  Johnson  after  Sir  John  had  fled  to  Canada.  The  name 
was  changed  in  1808  to  "Amsterdam,"  and  incorpation  of  the  village 
was  in  1830.  Among  the  first  settlers  were  William  and  Albert 
Vedder,  E.  E.  DeGraff,  Nicholas  Wilcox  and  William  Kline.  The 
earliest  known  church  was  the  Dutch  Reformed  Protestant  church  of 
1792,  in  which  Michael  Spore,  Tunis  Swart,  Jeremiah  DeGraff  and 
Ahasuerus  Marcellus  were  elders.  This  was  an  effort  to  organize  a 
church  at  Cranesville  ("Willigas"),  but  tho  a  morgan  of  land  was 
given  by  John  L.  Groat,  son  of  Philip  Groat  above,  the  project  fell 
thro  because  the  members  wanted  the  church  on  both  sides  of  the 
river.  In  the  Summer  of  1795  a  second  organization  was  started  in 
which  Jeremiah  Voorhees  and  Cornelius  Van  Vranken  were  elders, 
whom  Rev.  John  Johnson  of  the  First  Dutch  church  of  Albany  or- 
dained. The  meeting  for  organization  was  held  at  the  home  of  John 
Wiser  (near  where  Henry  Hagaman  lived  in  1851).  A  Rev.  Ames 
supplied  this  church,  who  spent  his  last  days  at  the  county  house. 
Rev.  Sampson  Qccuir^-a  Long  Ioland  India n— preaeh-ef;  also  was  in 
thi^-ehtrrcrr. — He-died-m-l^gg  at  N^w-S4^ckbrid^erM^xiisorr-€-o.7-NlT-¥ . , 
aged— etr-    He^was  ^ne- of-4ke-be^^diieated  ~o~f^  Two 

other  churches  were  built  at  this  time,  one  at  New  Harlem,  later 
called  Fondas  Bush,  and  another  at  Mayfield.  In  1799  the  Rev.  Con- 
rad Ten  Eyck,  just  graduated  from  the  New  Brunswick  Seminary,  was 
called  to  these  three  fields,  the  call  being  dated  March  14,  1799,  tho 
Mr.  Ten  Eyck  did  not  enter  on  the  field  until  May  1,  1799.  There  was 
no  church  edifice  as  yet  in  Amsterdam.  On  July  3,  1799,  Joseph  Clizbe 
was  made  elder  and  Aaron  Lindsay  deacon.  John  DeGraff  was  al- 
ready in  the  consistory  whose  place  was  taken  in  December,  1799,  by 
Nicolas  Marcellus.  John  Manley  and  John  Crane  were  made  deacons. 
During  1800  in  trying  to  settle  on  a  church  site  two  places  were 
favorites,    one    in    the    village    where    the    Dr.    Pulling   residence    was, 

Note — We  are  attempting  to  give  in  these  following  pages  glimpses  of  the 
history  of  those  churches,  formerly  attached  to  the  Montgomery  Classis,  but 
which^  thro  the  circumstances  referred  to  in  each  case,  became  extinct,  or 
independent,  or  were  merged  into  other  bodies.  While  some  of  them  were 
worthy  a  decent  burial,  still  we  are  constrained  to  feel  that  many  were  lost 
to  the  denomination  thro  neglect  or  lack  of  practical  aid  on  the  part  of 
the   Classis. 

109 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

near  Market  and  West  Main,  and  the  other  at  Manny's  Corners, 
where  a  good  many  of  the  congregation  lived.  As  a  result  of  the 
difference  of  opinion  two  churches  were  erected,  one  on  each  spot. 
At  this  time  a  third  church  seems  to  have  been  organized  in  Vedders- 
burgh,  among  the  officers  being  James  Downs  and  Mr.  Van  Derveer, 
both  residents  in  Florida.  This  church  continued  until  about  1831. 
Ten  Eyck  remained  about  four  years  with  these  three  churches,  and 
then  served  Mayfield  and  New  Harlem  until  1812,  when  he  went  to 
the  Owasco  church.  The  Veddersburgh  church  was  supplied  after 
Ten  Eyck's  going  by  the  neighboring  pastors,  and  occasionally  by 
those  in  the  Albany  and  Schenectady  Dutch  churches.  Articles  of 
incorporation  of  all  these  churches  are  to  be  found  at  Fonda.  In  1802 
Classis  dismissed  the  First  Dutch  church  to  unite  with  the  Galway 
Presbyterian  church  to  call  Rev.  Mr.  Christie.  In  1807  Classis  dis- 
missed  another    First    Dutch    church    to    Albany    Presbytery. 

In  the  journal  of  the  Rev.  John  Taylor,  who  traveled  thro  here 
in  1802  he  refers  to  Amsterdam  as  a  town  eleven  by  eight  miles, 
where  both  the  Dutch  and  Presbyterian  churches  are  vacant,  tho 
he  adds  that  "Domine  Ten  Eyck  occasionally  officiates  at  both." 
He  also  says  that  the  people  are  three-fourths  English  and  that  they 
have  great  respect  for  pious  clergymen.  In  1806  the  Veddersburgh 
congregation  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  church  building,  elected  Andreas 
Waters,  Harmanus  A.  Vedder  and  Volckert  Vedder  as  trustees.  In 
1807  this  church  is  dismissed  to  the  Presbytery  of  Albany.  In 
1815  a  new  church  was  formed,  known  as  "The  Albany  Bush  (Johns- 
town) and  Amsterdam  Reformed  Dutch  church";  the  elders  were 
Peter  Van  Neste  and  Solomon  Hoyt,  and  the  deacons,  Peter  Vos- 
burgh  and  Garret  Ten  Broeck.  Later,  November  21,  1821,  the  term 
"Union"  was  added  to  the  title  and  John  Voorhees  and  Nathan 
Wells  were  in  the  consistory.  The  Manny's  Corners  Reformed 
church  became  Presbyterian  in  1802,  and  was  incorporated  February 
1,  1803,  its  first  trustees  being  Joseph  Hagaman,  Samuel  Baldwin, 
John  Bantan,  Aaron  Marcellus,  Joseph  Gunsaulus  and  Gabriel  Manna. 
It  united  with  the  West  Galway  Presbyterian  church  and  called  Rev. 
John  I.  Christie,  who  began  his  work  October  5,  1803.  He  was  a 
Reformed  Dutch  minister  coming  from  the  Classis  of  Bergen  to  the 
church.  His  last  charge  was  in  the  Dutch  church  at  Warwick  (1812- 
1835).  He  died  in  1845.  After  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  left  in  1804  there  was 
no  preaching  in  the  Veddersburgh  church  for  several  years,  and  in 
1812  the  church  became  Presbyterian  and  united  with  the  church  at 
Manny's  Corners,  which  also  had  become  Presbyterian,  under  one 
head.  It  was  from  this  church  that  on  March  3,  1832,  a  hundred  and 
four  members  went  to  form  the  Second  Presbyterian  church  of  Am- 
sterdam. Not  until  1850  was  another  Reformed  Dutch  church  found- 
ed in  Amsterdam,  this  time  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  in  Port 
Jackson.  Among  those  who  preached  in  these  first  or  earlier  Re- 
formed churches,  besides  Mr.  Ten  Eyck,  were  the  Rev.  Messrs. 
Stephen  Ostrander,  Herman  B.  Stryker,  Jonathan  F.  Morris  and 
Sylvanus  Palmer,  the  last  of  whom  organized  an  independent 
("Wyckofite")  church  in  Amsterdam,  its  members  being  called 
"Palmerites"  and  "Wyckofites."  This  church  ran  for  six  or  seven 
years.  Palmer  also  preached  in  independent  churches  at  Tribes  Hill 
and  Mayfield.  The  Particular  Synod  of  Albany,  of  the  Dutch  church, 
carried  the  "Albany  Bush  Reformed  church"  on  its  records  until  1831. 

no 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

The  years  of  the  ministry  of  Morris  and  Stryker  date  down  to  1833. 
Stryker  went  to  St.  Johnsville  in  1833  and  remained  about  two  years. 
This  was  one  of  the  original  churches  of  the 
ANDRIESTOWN  Classis,  and  usually  given  as  one  of  the 
Canadian  churches  organized  by  the  missionary, 
McDowell.  But  Andriestown  ("Andrustown")  was  an  outgrowth  of 
the  German  Flatts  church,  seven  miles  away  in  the  southern  part  of 
Herkimer  county,  and  so  called  after  Dr.  Jas.  Henderson,  a  surgeon 
of  the  British  Army,  who  had  obtained  in  1739  from  the  Crown  some 
20,000  acres  of  land.  It  was  a  corrupted  form  of  Hendersontown. 
Seven  of  the  German  families  of  the  German  Flatts  church  bot  a 
thousand  acres  of  this  land.  Among  the  names  are  Grimm  (Crim), 
Starring,  Osterhout,  Frank,  Hawyer,  Bell,  Lepper,  et  al.  In  1757 
these  people  took  refuge  in  the  church  fort  at  German  Flatts  on  ac- 
count of  the  French-Indian  troubles.  On  July  18,  1778,  an  Indian 
massacre  occurred  at  Andriestown  with  utter  destruction  of  crops  and 
cabins.  It  was  here  that  Brant  took  his  first  revenge  for  Oriskany. 
At  the  time  there  were  ten  families,  three  of  whom,  the  Crims, 
Moyers  and  Osterhouts  escaped  to  Fort  Herkimer.  The  rest  were 
killed  or  taken  prisoners.  The  congregation  was  pastored  by  the 
German  Flatts  church  minister  as  the  records  show.  The  work  was 
continued  in  the  Columbia  church. 

The    records   of   this    church,    now    called^  Roxbury,  y  sJLct/^ 

BEAVERDAM     begin  in  1802.     In  its  earliest  years- ft  was  supplied-,.      r<y% 
by    Revs.    Stephen    Z.    Goetschius,    Abner    Benedict      ^^^-v^C^j 
and  Winslow  Paige.     Rev.  David  Devoe  supplied  ifwfien  pastor  at     ^V.      T 
Middleburgh  (1803-1816).     In  1813  he  reported  one  hundred  and  thirty      ~^ 
members.     This  was  the  year  it  joinea  the  Classis..Vr  ■'=•>'-     ^  k4rn£aT££: 

This   church   is   now  called   So.   Gilboa.     Corwin   sa"ys 
BLENHEIM     it  was  organized  in  1821  but  the  Montgomery  Classis 
Minutes  carry  it  on  their  roll  for  a  decade  previous  to 
this.     Rev.  Winslow  Paige  was  its  supply  during  this  period. 

The  first  settlement  at  Buel  was  by  John  Bowman  in  1760. 
BUEL     The    Indian   name   for   the   place   was   Te-ko-ha-ra-wa.     The 

place  was  called  "Bowman's  Kill"  for  a  long  time.  Its  pres- 
ent name  comes  from  Hon.  Jesse  Buel  a  prominent  agriculturist  of 
Albany.  It  was  here  that  Capt.  Robt.  McKean  was  brot  after  the 
battle  of  Dorlach  (Sharon  Springs)  and  where  he  died,  July  10,  1781, 
and  was  at  first  buried  at  Fort  Clyde  (Minden),  tho  later  reinterred 
at  old  Fort  Plain.  The  earliest  title  of  the  church  is  the  "Bowman's 
Creek  Protestant  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  It  joined  the  Classis 
of  Montgomery  in  1802.  The  consistory  in  1807  were  Abijah 
White  and  John  Bowman,  elders,  and  William  Bartlett  and 
Adam  Felist,  Jr.,  deacons.  In  1809  John  Bowman,  a  ruling  elder 
in  the  churc,h  had  the  body  turned  into  Presbyterian.  Rev.  John  C. 
Toll  was  the  last  pastor  of  the  Dutch  church  (1803-1807).  On  May 
21,  1842,  the  session  met  and  put  the  church  back  into  the  Dutch  fold, 
but  five  years  later,  May  22,  1847,  the  church  was  again  put  into  the 
Presbyterian  fold,  where  it  has  remained  since.  The  church  edifice 
built  about  1800  was  burned  in  1915.  A  new  building  was  erected  the 
same  year.  Among  the  preachers  here  besides  Toll  (cf  Mapletown), 
were  Rev.  J.  L.  Stark  (cf  Mohawk)  and  a  Rev.  William  Clark,  who 
supplied  for  a  while.  The  proximity  of  the  Mapletown  Reformed 
church  has  often  resulted,  as  now  in  a  dual  pastorate.     Rev.  Ebenezer 

111 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Tucker,  Auburn  '43,  was  a  member  of  the  Buel  church.  In  1823  an 
asylum  for  the  deaf  and  dumb  was  built,  but  in  1836  united  in  the  one 
already  founded  in   New  York   City. 

Three  Reformed  churches  at  Buffalo  have  become  ex- 
BUFFALO  tinct.  The  church  of  1838  had  for  pastors,  Rev.  John 
Beattie  (1838-1844),  and  Rev.  William  A.  V.  V.  Mabon, 
who  served  it  in  a  missionary  capacity  for  two  or  three  years  (1844- 
1856).  Mr.  Beattie  came  to  Buffalo  to  supply  the  church  here  after 
a  twenty-five  years  pastorate  at  New  Utrecht.  Later  he  was  installed 
pastor.  He  died  January  22,  1864.  Mr.  Mabon  died  while  in  the 
professorate  at  New  Brunswick,  November  3,  1892.  A  second  organi- 
zation at  Buffalo  was  the  Holland  church  of  1855,  whose  pastors  were 
Revs.  W.,  C.  Wust  (1855-1856),  A.  K.  Kasse  (1861-1864),  and  Henry 
K.  Boer  (1876-1879).  Mr.  Wust  went  to  a  Holland  church  in  Ro- 
chester (1856-1864),  then  to  the  Lodi,  N.  J.  Holland  church,  where 
after  a  few  years  he  was  suspended,  but  preached  to  an  independent 
church  until  1878,  when  he  returned  to  Holland.  Mr.  Kasse  died 
while  pastor  of  the  Second  Holland  church  of  Paterson,  N.  J.,  in 
1874.  Mr.  Boer  is  at  the  Siuox  Centre,  la.  church.  A  third  effort  at 
Buffalo  was  an  English  speaking  church,  founded  in  1855,  located  on 
Delaware  avenue,  of  which  the  only  pastor  was  the  Rev.  John  L. 
See  (1854-1861),  who,  later  became  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion. He  died  June  1,  1892.  The  present  Buffalo  church  is  in  the 
Rochester  Classis,  tho  for  many  years  a  member  of  Montgomery. 

"Canajoharie"   is   a   term   to   conjure   with   in 
CANAJOHARIE  OR     any    historical    study    since    it    was    on    both 
"SAND  HILL"  sides  of  the  Mohawk  and  was  loosely  bounded 

by  the  changing  events  of  those  early  pre- 
Revolutionary  times.  Originally  it  referred  to  the  country  on  the 
north  side  of  the  river,  and  was  named  after  the  Indian  village, 
"Can-a-jor-he"  ("whirling  stone").  When  the  Bear  clan  of  the  Can- 
a-jor-he  moved  to  the  south  side  of  the  river  toward  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century  they  took  the  name  with  them,  tho  for 
years  afterwards  the  old  deeds  refer  to  it  still  as  on  the  north  side. 
This  continued  until  1772  when  Tryon  county  was  formed  and  Cana- 
joharie was  definitely  bounded,  extending  from  Nose  Hill  to  Fall 
Hill  along  the  river  for  twenty  miles,  virtually  to  the  Pennsylvania 
line.  In  the  divisions  of  Tryon  county  Canajoharie  included  the 
settlements  of  Cherry  Valley,  Charlotte  river,  etc.  and,  later,  was 
known  as  the  "Old  English  District."  On  Sauthier's  map  (1776) 
the  Canajoharie  creek  was  called  "Te-cay-o-ha-ron-we." 

During  Sir  William  Johnson's  time  Canajoharie  was  known  as 
the  country  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  around  the  Upper  Castle 
of  the  Mohawks,  in  the  town  of  Danube,  but  by  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  its  boundaries  became  popularly  extended  as  far  east  as 
Fort  Plain.  Continuing  the  local  history  before  we  come  to  the 
"Sand  Hill"  church,  the  government  in  1776  built  a  fort  about  a  third 
of  a  mile  north-east  of  the  church  (built  in  1750)  and  called  it  "Fort 
Plain"  (not  Fort  Plank  which  Stone,  Campbell,  et  al.  confuses  with 
Fort  Plain).  It  enclosed  a  third  of  an  acre  and  was  palisaded  and 
defended  with  cannons  and  bastions.  After  the  brutal  raid  of  Sir 
John  Johnson  in  1780  (cf  Notes)  the  government  built  a  score,  of 
forts  in  the  valley  for  increased  protection  of  the  settlers.  The  first 
raid   was   in   August,   followed   by   the   savage   raid   in    October.      The 

112 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

record  of  the  court  martial  of  Gen.  Robt.  Van  Rensselaer  brot  out 
the  fact  that  Van  Rensselaer  wanted  the  name  of  "Fort  Plain" 
changed  to  that  of  "Rensselaer,"  to  satisfy  his  vanity — surely  not 
because  of  his  cowardice  shown  at  the  battle  of  Stone  Arabia  (cf 
Note).  Acquitted  at  the  court  martial,  failing  to  have  the  name 
changed,  Van  Rensselaer  ordered  the  erection  of  a  block  house  a 
little  to  the  north  of  the  fort,  on  the  land  of  John  Lipe,  and  called 
it  "Fort  Rensselaer."  This  was  in  1781.  "Fort  Plain"  was  already 
becoming  dilapidated.  Rev.  Daniel  Gros,  the  pastor  of  the  "Sand 
Hill"  church  wrote  Gen.  Clinton  urging  him  to  send  troops  to  Fort 
Rensselaer  which,  he  says,  is  close  to  the  ruins  of  the  old  "Sand 
Hill"  church,  burned  in  the  raid  of  1780.  In  his  trip  up  the  valley 
in  July,  1783,  Washington  speaks  of  tarrying  over  night  at  the  home 
of  Maj.  Wormuth,  opposite  Fort  Plain  and  crossing  in  the  morning 
where  he  probably  dined  at  Fort  Rensselaer  to  which  he  refers. 
Simms  and  later  writers  refer  to  the  old  stone  house  built  by  a  Mr. 
Van  Alstyne  (1740),  who  had  come  from  Kinderhook  and  settled  at 
what  is  now  the  present  village  of  Canajoharie,  as  Fort  Rensselaer, 
but  this  is  obviously  an  error,  as  all  the  documentary  history  amply 
proves.  The  ninth  meeting  of  the  Tryon  Co.  Com.  of  Safety  was  held 
in  this  house,  June  11,  1775.  The  fourteenth  meeting  was  also  held 
here  and  Gen.  Herkimer  was  chairman  of  the  meeting.  The  forts 
built  near  Fort  Plain  during  the  last  years  of  the  War  of  the  Revolu- 
tion were  Fort  Rensselaer,  three  hundred  and  thirty  feet  from  old 
Fort  Plain,  Fort  Plank,  two  and  a  half  miles  west  and  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  the  river,  Fort  Willett  four  miles  west  on  the  highland 
of  "Dutchtown,"  on  the  Zimmerman  farm;  Fort  Windecker  eight 
miles  west  on  the  river,  and  Fort  Clyde,  in  Freys  Bush,  three  miles 
south. 

"The  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  of  Canajoharie"  (so 
the  seal  reads)  was  organized  in  1750  and  for  seventy-five  years  the 
work  was  carried  on.  The  church  was  locally  known  as  the  "Sand 
Hill"  church,  and  was  built  on  the  westerly  side  of  the  "Dutchtown" 
road,  about  four  miles  up  the  river  from  the  present  village  of  Cana- 
joharie and  about  one  mile  above  the  present  site  of  Fort  Plain.  The 
Germans  who  settled  the  town  of  Minden  about  1720,  located  prin- 
cipally on  the  "Dutchtown"  road  which  led  down  from  Sand  Hill  to 
the  river  where  there  was  a  ferry.  The  land  for  this  church  and 
parsonage  was  given  by  Rutger  and  Nicolas  Bleeker  on  September 
22,  1729,  tho  the  church  was  not  built,  that  is  the  substantial  structure, 
until  after  1761,  for  Rev.  John  Lappius,  a  German  minister,  on  Sep- 
tember 9,  1761,  was  given  permission  to  collect  funds  for  the  erection 
of  a  church.  In  April,  1759,  Sir  William  Johnson  held  an  Indian 
council  at  this  place  with  the  Iroquois.  Domine  Lappius  died  in 
1765.  From  Canajoharie  just  previous  to  his  death  Mr.  Lappius  writes 
a  pathetic  letter  to  Sir  William  Johnson,  begging  him  to  send  him 
some  rum  and  raisins  to  relieve  his  cold.  Near  by  the  church  was 
the  home  of  John  Abeel,  a  celebrated  German  trader  with  the  Indians, 
whose  Seneca  squaw  bore  him  a  son,  Cornplanter,  the  celebrated 
Indian  of  infamous  memory. 

All  that  remains  of  the  old  church  today  is  a  long  neglected 
burial  spot,  a  few  mutilated  books  (in  the  Utica  Public  Library),  the 
church  seal,  Rev.  John  Wack's  call,  and  a  few  old  papers,  which  are 
in  the  possession  of  some  of  Wack's  descendants  at   Fort   Plain.      In 

113 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

the  old  record  books  referred  to  there  are  but  a  few  consistorial 
minutes,  the  main  portion  of  these  records  being  statistical — baptisms, 
marriages,  deaths,  etc.  These  are  from.1788  thro  1821.  Rev.  Abra- 
ham Rosencrantz  preached  here  aTtelr  Mis  coming  to  German  Flatts 
rcf>-4«-  175:3,  and,  later  came  Rev.  John  Casper  Lappius(l,S^1765) 
and  Rev.  Kennipe  (of  whom  we  know  nothing  but  the  name  in  the 
records)  and  Rev.  John  Broeffle'fdr"  Brtreffel),  who  was  one  of  the 
first  post-Revolutionary  pastors.  In  1788  Rev.  D.  C.  A.  Pick  of  Stone 
Arabia  (cf)  came  to  the  church  to  supply  it,  and  was  followed  by  Rev. 
John  D.  Gros,  a  regent  of  the  University  of  New  York,  and  a  chaplain 
of  the  N.  Y.  militia.  He  had  served  a  German  Reformed  church  in 
New  York  City.  Dr.  Gros  was  the  instructor  of  the  illustrious 
Milledoler  (for  thirty  years  connected  with  Rutgers).  He  wrote  a 
standard  work  on  "Moral  Philosophy."  He  spent  the  last  ten  years 
of  his  wonderful  life  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort  Plain,  and  lies  buried  in 
its  beautiful  cemetery.  He  was  an  extensive  land  owner  in  the 
valley.  His  brother,  Capt.  Lawrence  Gros,  of  the  Revolution,  came 
to  America  in  176-1.  His  company  was  a  part  of  Col.  Willet's  regi- 
ment. He  was  in  the  battles  of  Oriskany,  Sharon  and  Johnstown. 
Rev.  Dr.  Gros  was  the  almoner  for  N.  Y.  State  Commission  for  re- 
lieving distressed  families  and  served  during  1780-1783.  During  the 
^  buv-k^ffllPttuist^y— ®$-  Dr.  Gros  a  new  church  was  built  costing  $2,500,  before 
^  and  during  the  construction  of  which    (erected  on  the  site  of  the  old 

one)  the  barn  of  Mr.  Lipe  (torn  down  in  1859)  was  used  for  worship. 
The  builder  of  the  church  was  Peter  March.  It  had  the  high  pulpit, 
half  round  with  a  bench  for  one,  and  sounding  board,  galleries  on 
the  sides  and  rear  and  steeple.  Rev.  Isaac  Labagh  came  to  the  church 
about  1800  and  remained  three  years.  During  the  first  year  of  his 
ministry  a  Washington  Memorial  service  was  held,  and  Labagh 
preached  a  sermon,  afterwards  printed.  The  church  was  decorated 
with  evergreen  and  black  crepe,  while  in  the  procession  was  a  rider- 
less horse,  with  boots  attached  to  the  saddle  (a  custom  of  the  day 
when  officers  were  buried).  It  was  an  imposing  service,  attended  by 
thousands,  not  a  few  of  whom,  doubtless,  saw  Washington  on  his 
visit  to  "Sand   Hill"  in  the  summer  of  1783. 

Rev.  John  J.  Wack  came  to  the  "Sand  Hill"  church  in  1804,  the 
call  being  dated  May  26  and  promising  $200,  together  with  fifty  cords 
of  wood,  the  personal  use  of  the  parsonage,  the  use  of  the  glebe 
lands,  and  two  weeks'  vacation.  His  older  brother,  Casper,  began 
the  study  of  theology  at  eleven,  and  received  calls  at  fifteen,  but 
Classis  compelled  him  to  wait  a  few  years  for  ordination  tho  he  was 
allowed  to  serve  the  church  as  a  catechist.  He  was  the  first  native 
born  minister  to  be  educated  and  ordained  in  America.  Rev.  J.  J. 
Wack  began  preaching  at  twenty-three  at  Amwell,  N.  J.,  from  which 
he  came  to  the  "Sand  Hill"  church  with  his  bride  and  two  slaves, 
several  head  of  cattle — driving  all  the  distance.  Wack's  call  is  signed 
by  John  Jr.,  Jacob  and  John  Dievendorf,  Cornelius  Van  Camp,  Jr., 
Dionysius  Miller,  Thomas  Zimmerman,  Jacob  H.  Walradt,  John  Fail- 
ing (consistory),  and  by  the  trustees,  Solomon  Dievendorf,  George 
G.  Garlock,  John  Seeber,  Casper  Lipe  and  Henry  S.  Failing.  Rev. 
Mr.  Wack  was  a  fluent  linguist,  preaching  in  the  German  and  English, 
and  in  the  controversies  of  that  day  with  the  Universalists,  quo.ting 
passages  from  his  Hebrew  and  Greek  Testaments,  and  from  the 
Latin  Fathers — which  procedure  always  had  a  most  favorable  impres- 

114 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

sion  on  the  hearers  and  tended  to  confound  his  adversaries.  Rev. 
Wack  was  more  than  a  preacher — he  was  for  his  day  a  sort  of 
"bishop,"  ruling  in  all  the  affairs  of  his  people  with  strong  hand  and 
convincing  speech.  When  the  soldiers  of  the  company  of  which  he 
was  chaplain  (War  of  1812)  refused  to  assemble  for  prayers  be 
borrowed  the  sword  from  the  commanding  officer  and  compelled  them 
to  form  a  hollow  square,  inside  of  which  he  led  them  in  the  morning 
devotions.  When  the  Montgomery  Classis  sought  to  discipline  him 
for  infraction  of  their  rules  he  took  the  church  out  of  the  Classis  or 
else  went  off  and  organized  a  new  one.  For  nearly  half  a  century 
he  was  a  potent  factor  in  the  churches  of  the  classis,  or  in  those 
that  were  organized  independent  of  Classis.  He  served  the  church 
at  "Sand  Hill"  for  twenty  years,  its  last  pastor,  unto  whom,  for 
salary  due,  came  the  church,  and  parsonage,  and  glebe  lands, — he 
might  have  had  the  cemetery  but  declined  it.  We  find  him  serving, 
besides  "Sand  Hill,"  the  churches  at  Canajoharie  (Independent),  Stone 
Arabia,  Tillaborough,  and  Ephratah,  at  which  place  he  died,  May 
26,  1851,  the  anniversary  of  his  call  to  "Sand  Hill."  Under  the  present 
Canajoharie  church  we  speak  of  other  efforts  in  the  present  village 
to  organize  Reformed  churches,  and  under  the  Independent  churches 
references  are  to  be  found  anent  the  "Wyckofite"  movement  in  the 
community.  Both  Fort  Plain  and  Canajoharie  are  outgrowths  of  the 
"Sand  Hill"  church,  tho  the  former  has  priority  in  the  succession. 
"Sand  Hill"  or  "Canajoharie"  was  for  many  years  also  called,  the 
"Fort  Plain"  church.  In  the  Minutes  of  Particular  Synod  of  Albany 
(1817  ff)  concerning  the  trouble  Classis  had  with  Mr.  Wack  it  is 
so  called,  and  Peter  Mayer  signs  himself  as  the  "President  of  the 
Fort  Plain  Reformed  Dutch  church"  under  date  of  October  2,  1816. 
Organized  in  1833  by  the  Cayuga  Classis,  it  entered 
CANASTOTA  the  Montgomery  Classis  in  1889.  The  pulpit  from 
the  beginning  was  almost  wholly  supplied  by  the 
students  from  Auburn  Seminary,  while  of  the  fourteen  pastors  or 
supplies  mentioned,  but  four  represent  the  Reformed  church  ministry. 
Among  the  pastors  were,  Rev.  S.  Z.  Goetschius  (S.  S.  1836-1837),  Rev. 
Francis  T.  Drake  (1845-1853),  Rev.  John  Garretson  (1859-1861),  and 
Rev.  William  A.  Wurts  (1863-1868),  the  latter  serving  as  pastor  for 
six  years,  and,  later  (1877-1878)  acting  as  supply.  Rev.  John  H.  Lock- 
wood  was  installed  in  November,  1871,  and  resigned  in  May,  1873. 
Mr.  Lockwood  went  to  the  First  Congregational  church  of  Westfield, 
Mass.,  in  1879,  and  is  now  the  pastor  emeritus  of  that  church,  tho 
residing  at  Springfield,  Mass.  He  has  not  been  in  active  work  since 
1896.  Cayuga  dropped  the  church  after  Wurts'  supply  but  Mont- 
gomery listed  it  until  1894,  even  tho  it  had  gone  over  to  the  Pres- 
byterian denomination  about  1883.  A  strong  Reformed  church  in 
the  sixties,  tho  most  of  the  families  were  Presbyterian,  the  church 
was  practically  in  the  hands  of  the  Auburn  men,  especially  Rev.  Mr. 
Whitfield,  and  eventually  went  into  that  denomination.  Canastota 
means  "the  lonesome  pine." 

Two  churches  were  organized  at   Caroline    (Tompkins 
CAROLINE     Co.),     the     first     in     1800,     the     year     of     the     forma- 
tion    of     the     Classis,     and     which     continued     for     a 
few  years,  Rev.  Garrett  Mandeville  being  a  pastor.     In  1831  a  second 
Reformed  church  was  formed,  Revs.  Chas.  P.  Wack,  John  G.  Tarbell, 


115 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Cornelius  Gates,  and  John  Witbeck  (cf  Arcadia)  serving  as  pastors, 
the  last  thro  the  years  1852-1868. 

The  Reformed  Dutch  church  of  Cato  was  organized  in  1818 
CATO     by    the    Montgomery    Classis    and    continued    as    such    until 

December,  1884,  when  it  was  formally  received  into  the 
Presbytery  of  Cayuga.  For  the  first  few  years  it  was  supplied  by 
missionaries  or  nearby  pastors.  In  1821  David  R.  DeFraest  became 
the  pastor.  In  1824  a  church  was  organized  at  Sterling  (cf  Aurelius) 
and  DeFraest  preached  for  a  couple  years  here,  as  well  as  at  Cato. 
In  1827  an  Independent  or  "Wyckofite"  church  ("True  Reformed") 
was  organized  at  Cato  in  which  DeFraest  continued  to  preach  until 
1828  when  he  was  suspended  by  the  Classis  from  the  ministry.  Later 
he  joined  the  Associate  Presbyterian  body,  and  died  in  1861.  When 
the  seceders  left  the  original  church  the  missionaries,  Rev.  Richard 
Wynkoop  served  the  church  for  several  months,  and  after  him  Rev. 
Jas.  B.  Stevenson  for  a  couple  of  years,  going  to  Florida  (cf)  in  1829. 
Rev.  Abram  Hoffman  was  the  second  pastor  serving  the  church  from 
1831  thro  1843.  He  died  in  1856.  Rev.  Richard  W.  Knight,  an  English 
Congregationalist,  who  had  been  at  Sand  Beach  (Owasco  Outlet)  for 
several  years,  came  to  Cato  in  1845,  also  preaching  at  Lysander. 
Later  Wolcott  (Victory)  was  substituted  for  Lysander,  and  Knight 
continued  at  Cato  until  1852,  when  he  was  made  pastor  emeritus.  He 
died  February  9,  1873.  Rev.  A.  G  Morse  was  at  Cato  during  1857- 
1859.  Rev.  Thomas  G.  Watson  was  ordained  and  installed  over  the 
church  by  the  Geneva  Classis,  June  25,  1861.  He  also  preached  at 
Wolcott.  On  leaving  Cato  in  1869,  he  entered  the  Presbyterian 
church,  spending  fifteen  years  in  Washington  where  he  died,  at 
Spokane  on  October  28,  1900.  During  his  pastorate  (1865)  the  con- 
gregation bot  of  the  Methodists  their  property  for  $850,  selling  the 
old  church  and  land  for  $350.  At  this  time  there  were  but  thirty- 
one  in  the  communion  of  the  church.  Rev.  Watson  was  drafted  for 
the  Civil  War,  but  he  bought  his  release  with  money  given  by  the 
two  churches  and  some  of  his  own  ($600).  In  these  days  L.  W. 
Van  Doren,  Isaac  Van  Doren,  Morgan  Lawrence,  Peter  Sleight,  and 
David  Jones  were  efficient  officers.  Rev.  Minor  Swick  came  in  1869 
and  remained  two  years,  to  be  followed  by  Rev.  Frederick  F.  Wilson, 
who  came  from  Mohawk  (cf)  and  remained  a  year  (1872).  Rev.  T. 
R.  Townsend  supplied  for  a  while.  On  May  26,  1874,  Rev.  J.  Howard 
Van  Doren,  who  had  been  in  the  China  mission,  was  installed  and 
staid  until  1876  when  he  went  to  Tyre.  His  last  pastorate  was  at 
East  Albany  (Bath)  where  he  died  June  6,  1898.  His  daughter,  Alice 
Van  Doren,  has  been  for  some  years  a  member  of  the  Ranipettai 
(India)  Mission.  Rev.  Ransford  Wells  (cf  Canajoharie  and  Fulton- 
ville)  spent  five  years  at  Cato  (1876-1880).  At  this  time  the  church, 
thro  its  financial  depression,  lost  its  parsonage.  For  three  years  it 
was  supplied  by  Auburn  students,  Rev.  Wilbur  O.  Carrier  leading 
it  at  length  into  the  Presbyterian  fold.  This  was  no  reflection  on 
the  Reformed  denomination  for  the  Domestic  Board  gave  thousands 
of  dollars  thro  the  years  to  the  work.  The  first  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian church  was  Rev.  John  Wileridge.  Rev.  O.  B.  Pershing  (New 
Brunswick  1900)  was  ordained  here.  The  present  pastor,  Rev.  Cassius 
J.  Sargent,  supplied  the  Owasco  field  from  1905  thro  a  part  of   1910. 


116 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

The  First  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church  of 
CHARLESTON  Charleston  was  a  charter  member  of  the  Classis. 
It  was  organized  in  179$"  In  1803  the  Second 
Charleston  church  was  organized  by  the  Classis,  the  first  settled 
pastor  being  Rev.  Henry  V.  Wyckoff  (1803-1820),  who  lived  in  the 
town  of  Charleston  for  thirty-five  years,  serving  various  churches, 
regular,  independent,  and  secession.  In  the  Particular  Synod  Albany 
Minutes  of  1817  he  is  reported  as  without  charge.  A  brother,  Rev. 
Isaac  N.  Wyckoff,  was  at  Albany  Second  for  thirty  years,  receiving 
a  thousand  souls  into  that  church.  Wyckoff  came  to  Glen  and 
Charleston  from  the  Seminary  in  1799:  During  the  quarter-century 
following  the  first  organization  there  were  four  others  according  to 
the  records,  but  nothing  is  known  of  them.  Wyckoff  seems  to  have 
been  the  moving  genius  in  each  but  the  first.  Another  church  under 
date  of  August  13,  1803,  was  incorporated,  which  Wyckoff  served 
twenty-five  years.  The  consistory  of  this  last  church  was,  Timothy  Hut- 
ton,  Sr.,  John  Jamison,  Garrett  Lansing,  Cornelius  Van  Olinda,  elders, 
and  Edward  Montaney,  Francis  Stile,  Wilhelm  Fero,  and  Henry 
Disbro,  deacons.  There  was  also  a  "Reformed  Calvinist  church  of 
Canajoharie  and  Charleston,"  incorporatedit/^lSOe.  The  building 
used  by  the  Second  church  finally  came  into  use  by  the  followers  of 
Wyckoff,  who  were  termed,  and  to  this  day,  "Wyckofites."  This 
edifice  was  burned  in  1860.  This  church  was  re-incorporated  Novem- 
ber 24,  1823.  Wyckof  was  suspended  in  1820  and  at  once  organized 
a  "Truth  Reformed"  church  (cf  Note),  which,  with  another  seceding 
church  he  served  for  ten  more  years.  Other  men  serving  the  regu- 
lar churches  in  the  town  of  Charleston  were,  Revs.  Benj.  Van  Keuren, 
Peter  Van  Buren,  ordained  by  Montgomery  Classis  in  1805,  J.  R.  H. 
Hasbrouck,  Jonathan  F.  Morris,  and  Alanson  B.  Chittenden.  Van 
Keuren  was  also  at  Mapletown  (cf).  Hasbrouck  was,  later,  at  Curry- 
town  (cf).  Morris  was  a  classical  mhjionan^in  the  twenties.  He 
died  July   11,   1886.      Mr.   Chittenden   died   m/!&^^. 

This  is  said  to  be  the  first  church  organized  by  the 
CHENANGO     Board    of    Domestic    Missions    after    the    Revolution, 

but  in  Todd's  "Life  of  Peter  Labagh,"  it  is  recorded 
to  have  been  organized  in  1796  by  Labagh,  who  was  temporarily 
serving  the  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  as  a  missionary.  It  was 
formed  by  Rev.  John  Cornelison.  He  died  in  1828  after  a  pastorate 
of  twenty  odd  years  in  the  church  at  Bergen.  The  date  was  1794,  a 
charter  member  of  the  Classis.  It  was  situated  near  the  present  site 
of  Binghamton,  and  continued  as  a  Dutch  church  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  when  it  became  Presbyterian.  The  building  was  torn  down  in 
1911.  Corwin's  manual  says  the  men  who  served  this  church  were, 
Revs.  Sylvanus  Palmer  (cf  Amsterdam),  Samuel  Van  Vechten  (cf 
Fort  Plain),  John  Van  Derveer  (cf  Canajoharie),  John  W.  Ward,  A. 
Henry  DuMont,  Douw  Van  Olinda  (cf  Fonda).  Ward  was  the  first 
Presbyterian  pastor.  Excepting  Mr.  Ward  these  men  served  the 
Union  church  in  Montgomery  county  (Johnstown)  organized  by  the 
Classis  in  1810.  Corwin's  Manual  errs  in  associating  them  with  the 
Chenango  Church  so  far  distant.  Another  church  nearby  was  called 
the  "Union"  Reformed  Dutch  Church,  because  here  Gen.  Clinton  on 
August  28,  1779,  made  a  union  with  the  forces  of  Gen.  Sullivan  in  the 
latter's  campaign  against  the  Iroquois. 


117 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Chittenango  was  settled  in  1793  and  was  called 
CHITTENANGO  Chittenango  Falls.  A  Presbyterian  church  was 
organized  here  in  1799  and  Rev.  John  Leonard 
was  the  first  pastor.  The  Reformed  Dutch  church  of  Chittenango 
(an  Indian  name  meaning  "sunshine")  was  organized  January  12,  1838, 
and  the  building  dedicated  January  15,  1829,  by  the  Cayuga  Classis. 
The  founders  of  the  church  were  Rev.  Andrew  Yates,  David  R. 
Austin,  las.  A.  Van  Voast,  Jacob  Slingerland  and  Stephen  Alexander. 
At  a  public  meeting  held  February  28,  1828,  a  committee  of  thirteen, 
with  Rev.  Yates  was  appointed  to  erect  the  church.  Hon.  John  B. 
Yates,  an  attorney  at  Chittenango,  gave  $2,500  toward  the  project. 
The  first  work  done  in  Chittenango  was  by  Rev.  Hutchins  Taylor 
(1828),  but  on  the  coming  of  Rev.  Yates,  a  New  Brunswick  man,  to 
the  principalship  of  what  became  the  Yates  Academy  (a  work  of  the 
Dutch  church)  and  which,  later,  and  is  now  called  the  Yates  High 
School,  the  Reformed  church  was  organized.  Originally  there  were 
but  five  members,  and  at  the  close  of  the  first  year,  but  twelve,  tho 
after  the  dedication  some  twenty  from  the  Sullivan  Presbyterian 
united.  Even  after  forty  years,  in  1864,  when  Rev.  Jas.  R.  Talmage 
was  pastor,  there  were  but  seventy-nine.  Rev.  Taylor  remained 
eighteen  months,  after  which  Dr.  Yates  served  as  supply  for  a  year. 
Rev.  Dr.  Yates  is  again  called,  and  declines,  but  secures  for  the 
church  Rev.  William  H.  Campbell  (later  Professor  and  President  at 
Rutgers),  who  remained  a  year.  Rev.  Dr.  Yates  now  accepts  a  call 
to  the  church,  still  retaining  his  position  in  the  school.  But  the  burden 
of  work  is  too  great  so  he  secures  Rev.  Elbert  Slingerland,  but  he 
remained  but  two  months.  Rev.  Daniel  E.  Manton,  a  graduate  of 
Andover  and  Princeton,  supplied  the  pulpit  after  this  until  April  22, 
1836,  when  Rev.  John  Cantine  F.  Hoes  is  installed  over  the  church, 
remaining  until  1837,  when  he  resigned  to  go  to  Ithaca  (cf).  Rev. 
Hoes  was  born  in  Kinderhook,  and  a  sister  married  President  Martin 
Van  Buren,  while  another  married  Rev.  L.  H.  Van  Dyck  (cf  Stone 
Arabia).  His  only  son  was  a  chaplain  in  the  navy.  The  Board  of 
Domestic  Missions  was  making  annual  grants  of  $200  to  aid  in  pay- 
ing salary. 

In  January,  1838,  Rev.  James  Abeel  came  to  the  field  and  staid 
nearly  twenty  years,  during  all  of  which  time  the  organization  was 
straightened  financially.  Other  preachers  or  supplies  were,  Rev. 
Seth  P.  M.  Hastings,  who  died  at  Accord  in  1876,  and  Jas.  R.  Tal- 
mage, who  died  a  decade  later.  His  brothers  were  Rev.  John  V.  N. 
Talmage,  a  missionary  to  the  Chinese  for  forty  years,  Rev.  Goyn 
Talmage  of  the  same  class  ('45)  at  New  Brunswick,  and  Rev.  T. 
DeWitt  Talmage,  the  famous  preacher  (cf  Syracuse  1st).  Rev.  Jacob 
H.  Enders  who  was  pastor  for  ten  years  (1869-1880).  Rev.  Otis  C. 
Thatcher  was  the  last  pastor  of  the  Reformed  church.  A  Mr.  Fisher 
supplied  the  pulpit  after  Rev.  Thatcher  left,  who  later  entered  the 
Methodist  ministry.  At  the  Fall  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  Syra- 
cuse, held  in  the  Reformed  church  at  Chittenango,  the  organization, 
on  application  of  the  congregation  was  received  into  the  Presbytery, 
which  also  took  over  the  valuable  property  rights  into  which  the 
Board  of  Domestic  Missions  had  invested  thousands  of  dollars,  and 
endowments  given  to  the  Dutch  church  by  its  former  members.  Rev. 
Charles  H.  Walker  (now  of  Troy,  N.  Y.)  was  the  first  Presbyterian 
pastor,    installed   in    1889.      A   year   after   this   transfer    the    Particular 

118 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Synod  of  Albany  placed  the  Chittenango  church  in  the  Classis  of 
Montgomery,  and  said  church  was  listed  among  those  of  the  Classis 
until   1894. 

The  Classis  of  Montgomery  in  1825  gave  leave  of 
CINCINNATUS  absence  to  Rev.  Mr.  Labagh  that  lie  might  go  to 
this  place,  which  is  in  Cortland  county,  to  organ- 
ize the  Reformed  Dutch  church  there.  Mr.  Van  Home  and  Rev.  Mr. 
De  Voe  were  to  supply  his  pulpit.  The  church  is  mentioned  after 
this   only  in   the   reports   of  the    Missionary   Society. 

This  church,  as  that  of  Andriestown  (cf)  was 
COENRADSTOWN  given  a  place  in  the  1800  list  of  the  Montgom- 
ery Classis.  They  have  been  placed  at  times 
among  the  Canadian  churches  of  early  missionary  activity  organized 
by  Rev.  Robert  McDowell,  who  was  commissioned  by  the  Classis 
of  Albany  to  labor  in  both  Upper  and  Lower  Canada,  and  whose 
regular  field  of  service  was  nearly  three  hundred  miles  long.  Both 
of  these  churches  were  developments  of  the  German  Flatts  church. 
Reference  is  made  under  Andriestown  to  the  settlement  of  that  name, 
seven  miles  south  of  Fort  Herkimer.  After  a  few  years  of  prosperity, 
a  number  of  these  settlers  went  five  miles  further  west  and  formed 
a  new  settlement  and  called  it  Coenradstown  (Coonrodstown)  because 
that  family  surname  predominated  among  the  first  settlers.  In  the 
"Mission  Field"  of  December,  1912,  is  a  view  of  the  Coonrod 
Orendorf  barn  where  the  people  of  Coenradstown  usually  met  for 
worship,  and  where,  in  1798,  the  church  of  Columbia  was  organized. 
In  the  records  of  the  German  Flatts  church  in  calling  Rev.  Pick  to 
their  joint  pastorate  (April  9,  1798)  the  consistories  of  German 
Flatts  and  Herkimer,  besides  demanding  of  Pick  a  statement  as  to 
his  debts  and  his  creditors,  also  agreed,  on  request  of  a  representa- 
tive from  Coenradstown,  that  Pick  should  preach  at  that  place  six 
Sabbaths  every  year,  and  four  times  a  year  during  the  week  at  Oren- 
dorf's  barn  or  in  the  church  erected.  No  records  of  these  two 
churches,  Andriestown  and  Coenradstown  are  extant,  tho  references 
are  made  to  them  in  the  records  at  German   Flatts. 

The  Union  Reformed  Dutch  church  of  this  place 
COBLESKILL     was   received  into  the   Montgomery   Classis  on   the 

second  Wednesday  of  February,  1826.  It  became 
extinct  in  1855,  for  most  of  the  time  being  in  the  Schoharie  Classis. 
A  church  was  at  once  built,  and  Rev.  William  Evans  conducted 
services  in  it  during  the  summer  months  of  1827.  Other  pastors  or 
supplies  were,  Revs.  H.  A.  Raymond,  A.  H.  Myers,  J.  E.  Quaw,  Benj. 
Bassler,  H.  E.  Waring,  William  Lochead,  Cyril  Spaulding,  and  D.  B. 
Hall.  Roscoe's  History  of  Schoharie  County  refers  to  the  church, 
but  the  only  correct  statement  made  is  to  the  effect  that  the  building 
was  later  occupied  by  the  post  office.  This  church  has  no  relation 
whatever  to  the  present  Cobleskill  church. 

"The  Duanesburgh  Dutch  Church — Anno  Domini 
DUANESBURGH  1800— Thomas  Romeyn,  V.  D.  M.,"  is  the  record 
on  the  fly  leaf  of  the  old  consistory  book  of  this 
church.  This  organization  had  apparently  but  a  few  years  of  life, 
the  records  beginning  in  September,  1798,  and  ending  in  June,  1804. 
Among  the  ministers  whose  names  occur  in  the  records  are  those  of 
Rev.  Winslow  Paige  of  Florida  (cf),  Rev.  Thos.  Romeyn,  Rev.  Conrad 
Ten    Eyck,    Rev.    Robert    McDowell.      Romeyn    was    also    at    Florida 

119 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

(1800-1806),  and  Ten  Eyck  was  at  Amsterdam  (first  organization), 
while  McDowell  was  one  of  the  early  missionaries  of  the  denomina- 
tion, doing  a  large  work  in  the  Canadian  settlements  near  the  border. 
A  meeting  house  was  built,  but  the  work  was  given  up  in  1805.  A 
second  church  was  organized  in  1824.  Records  of  these  churches  are 
to  be  found  at  Fonda.  On  April  5,  1801,  an  "Association  of  Florida 
and  Duanesburgh"  was  incorporated,  and  trustees  chosen  at  the  house 
of  Thomas  Crawford.  Later  a  Duanesburgh  Presbyterian  church  was 
organized  in  1804,  and  in  1806,  Classis  dismissed  the  Dutch  church 
to  Albany  Presbytery.  Still  another  Associate  church  was  organized 
at  Scotch  Bush  in  1795,  and  a  church  was  built.  This  last  church  was 
rebuilt  in  1846  and  in  1851  it  became  Presbyterian.  The  old  book  to 
which  we  refer  contains  several  pages  of  marriages,  baptisms,  and 
a  church  membership  register,  of  which  typed  copy  has  been  made. 
This  church  was  in  Seneca  county;  originally  the  town 
FAYETTE  was  called  "Washington."  The  church  was  formed  in 
1800.  It  was  a  missionary  church,  and  was  supplied 
for  a  decade  by  Revs.  John  Van  Derveer  and  Jonathan  F.  Morris. 
In  1855  the  county  histories  report  two  Reformed  churches  in  this 
town.     Classis  admitted  the  Fayette  church  in  1821. 

Called  also  Raitfsonville  (corporate  name  in  1815), 
FONDA'S   BUSH     "New  Harlem"  and  "Broadalbin,"  it  was  situated 

in  what  is  now  Fulton  Co.  on  Kennyetto  Creek, 
and  is  now  called  Vails  Mills.  Rev.  Romeyn  began  services  here  in 
1790.  The  church  was  organized  in  1795,  and  incorporated  in  1800,  and 
ran  thro  an  existence  of  some  thirty  years,  when  (1823)  it  was  dis- 
missed by  Classis  to  the  Albany  Presbytery.  The  first  consistory 
was  made  up  of  Dick  Banta  and  Samuel  Demarest,  elders,  and 
Abraham  Westervelt  and  Peter  Demarest,  deacons.  Mr.  Ten  Eyck 
staid  until  lSl^^T^aTrner'  came  in  1818.  Rev  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  and 
Rev.  Sylvanus  Palmer  were  pastors  of  the  church  and  Rev.  Samuel 
Van  Vechten,  the  missionary,  also  served  it.  (In  1804  there  was  an 
incorporation  as  "The  First  Presbyterian  Congregation  in  Broadalbin 
under  the  inspection  of  the  Associate  Reformed  church"). 

This  church  was  situated  in  the  town  of  Minden 
FORD'S  BUSH  (Montgomery  Co.)  just  south  of  St.  Johnsville, 
and  was  incorporated  April  26,  1801.  The  incor- 
poration, signed  by  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck,  bears  date  of  May  18, 
1800  and  is  on  file  at  Fonda.  Jonathan  F.  Morris  is  put  down  as  a  mis- 
sionary, serving  this  church  as  late  as  1829.  Robert  Sybert,  Martin 
Blessing  and  John  Monk  were  trustees. 

While  the  Reformed  church  never  had  any  or- 
FORT  HUNTER     ganization   at    Fort    Hunter   yet   on   the   estate   of 

Rev.  Jacob  H.  Enders  (for  years  a  member  of  the 
Montgomery  Classis,  cf  Chittenango)  a  commodious  house  of  worship 
(still  standing)  had  been  built  by  J.  Leslie  Voorhees  of  the  Auriesville 
church,  and  services  for  the  people  of  the  community  had  been  held 
in  it  for  many  years.  Fort  Hunter  was  originally  called  "I-can-der- 
a-go"  or  "Te-on-de-lo-ga"  i.  e.  "two  streams  coming  together."  Here 
was  the  familiar  palisaded  Indian  Mission  spoken  of  in  the  Note  on 
Indian  Education.  The  lower  Mohawk  Castle  was  built  here.  Fort 
Hunter  was  built  in  October,  1711,  but  at  the  close  of  the  French 
War  in  1763,  it  was  abandoned,  and  the  Indian  Mission  given  up  a 
decade   later.      Soon   after   the    Queen   Anne   chapel    was   built   in    the 

120 


iLs 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

fort,   the   Dutch  built  a  log  meeting   house   near   what   later   became 
known  as  Snook's  Corners,  about  two  miles  distant  from  the  fort. 

The  place  was  named  after  Lawrence  Frank,  an 
FRANKFORT  early  settler.  A  church  was  organized  in  the  pres- 
ent village  of  Frankfort  (Herkimer  Co.)  in  1830.  At 
the  beginning  the  Rev.  Henry  Snyder  (cf  Herkimer)  preached  here, 
and  at  Schuyler  and  Herkimer  2nd.  Other  ministers  were,  Rev.  Amos 
W.  Seeley  (cf  Cicero),  Rev.  James  Murphy  (cf  Herkimer),  and  Rev. 
Jedediah   L.  Stark   (cf  Mohawk). 

,  This  church  was  organized  in   181:2.     It  was  some- 

jGREENVVICg;    times  called  "Union  Village,"  and  was  in  Washing- 
\/UTt**~        w^.         tQn  county      Nothing  else  is  known. 

Sometimes  called,  "Warren,"  this  church  was  situ- 
HENDERSON  ated  near  Jordanville  (Herkimer  Co.),  some  six 
miles  east  of  the  Columbia  church.  It  was  settled 
between  1750  and  1756.  Its  name  was,  doubtless,  derived  from  Dr. 
Henderson,  after  whom  Andriestown  was  also  called  (cf).  Services 
were  conducted  in  this  church,  built  in  1829  (building  still  standing, 
1915)  up  to  May  22,  1887,  a  communion  service  conducted  by  Dr. 
Daniel  Lord.  In  1895  Classis  sold  the  building  for  $25.  A  First  Church 
of  Henderson  was  organized  about  1798,  at  the  time  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Columbia  church.  This  seems  to  have  been  dropped,  and 
second  one  formed  in  1823,  the  pastors  at  Columbia  usually  sup- 
plying Henderson,  among  whom  were  Revs.  Jacob  W.  Hangen  (cf 
Columbia),  David  De  Voe  (supplied  for  a  year-cf  St.  Johns- 
ville),  John  P.  Pepper,  Davis  B.  Hall,  John  Witbeck,  Daniel 
Lord  (supplied  often  during  twenty  years,  cf  Fort  Herkimer),  and 
James  M.  Compton  (cf  Stone  Arabia).  Henderson  reported  one 
hundred  families  and  a  congregation  of  five  hundred  in  1842,  but  in 
1854,  the  report  read,  forty  families  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  in 
the  congregation."  Reported  vacant  until  1895  when  the  name  was 
dropped. 

It  was  about  a  century  after  the  forming  of  the  origin- 
HERKIMER  al  Herkimer  church  that  a  second  church  was  or- 
SECOND  ganized  by  Montgomery  Classis  in  the  east  end  of 
Herkimer.  This  was  done  in  1824  and  continued  with 
more  or  less  success  until  1836,  when  it  was  merged  into  the  mother 
church.  In  December,  1823,  Simeon  Ford  and  others  wanted  to  organ- 
ize but  Classis  objected.  Gen.  Synod  in  June,  1824,  directed  it  should 
be  done.  Among  the  men  who  served  the  Second  Herkimer  church 
were  Revs.  Samuel  Centre,  Isaac  S.  Ketchum,  Joshua  Boyd,  Jonathan 
F.  Morris,  Henry  Snyder,  and  John  H.  Pitcher.  In  1912  a  Sunday 
school  was  started  by  members  of  the  Herkimer  church  in  East 
Herkimer,  and  the  outlook  is  excellent  for  an  organization  in  this 
prosperous  suburb  of  Herkimer. 

A   Reformed  church   was  organized  at   Ilion  in  1862,  and  in 
ILION     1866  reported  thirty  families  to  the   Classis.     Rev.  Jeremiah 
Petrie    (cf   Herkimer)    was   the   pastor   from   1864   thro   1868. 
The  church  later  went  over  to  the  Presbyterians,  who  built  a  beauti- 
ful new  structure  in  1912. 

Sir   William   Johnson   is   said   to   have   built   the 

INDIAN  CASTLE     church  at  Indian  Castle,  costing  $1,142.75   (also 

called    "Danube")    in    1769    in    order    that    the 

Indians  at  the  upper   Mohawk  Castle  might  have  religious  training. 

121 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

In  the  beginning  of  the  work  Rev.  Mr.  Hale  was  called,  but  declined. 
In  1772  Sir  William  Johnson  complained  to  Rev.  Dr.  Burton,  that 
he  can  get  no  preacher  for  the  Castle  church.  On  March  12,  1800,  a 
Reformed  Dutch  church  was  incorporated.  Rev.  David  De  Voe,  Rev. 
Joseph  Knieskern  of  St.  Johnsville,  and  Rev.  D.  C.  A.  Pick  of  Stone 
Arabia  often  supplied  the  pulpit.  In  1823  Rev.  Samuel  Ketchum  was 
preaching  here.  The  consistory  at  this  time  were  Andrew  Dingman, 
Jacob  Overacker,  Robert  Spoor,  Henry  Moyer,  elders,  and  William 
Ostrander,  Thomas  J.  Mesick,  Jacob  I.  Cramor,  and  Rudolph  Wal- 
rath,  Jr.,  deacons.  A  second  church  was  formed  in  1861  to  which 
Rev.  R.  M.  Stanbrough,  at  the  time  the  Manheim  pastor  ministered. 
Stanbrough  usually  walked  from  Manheim  to  the  Mohawk  at  a  point 
opposite  the  church  site,  then  crossed  in  a  skiff,  with  frequent  dangers, 
and  after  service  made  the  return  trip  for  the  evening  service  at 
Manheim. 

Called  also  "Johnsburgh,"  it  was  organized  by 
JOHNSBOROUGH     Rev.    Samuel    Centre    (cf   Herkimer)    who    sup- 
plied   the    field    in    1823.      The    church    was    in 
Warren  county  and  was  organized  in  1819. 

A  Montgomery  county  church,  formed  in  1816.  It 
JOHNSTOWN  was  also  called  "Kingsboro."  It  was  in  the  Kings- 
land  tract  of  sixty-six  thousand  acres  of  land  that 
the  King  gave  Sir  William  Johnson  a  few  years  before  the  latter's 
death.  Johnstown  was  originally  the  county  seat  of  Tyron  and  later 
of  Montgomery  county,  and  it  was  the  removal  of  the  county  seat 
to  Fonda  that  caused  a  division  in  the  county  and  the  formation  of 
Fulton  county.  The  title  on  record  is  "The  Kingsborough  Reformed 
Dutch  church."  At  first  it  was  connected  with  the  Caughnawaga 
church.  The  men  who  preached  here  were,  Rev.  Albert  Amerman, 
who  also  supplied  Mayfield,  and  who  was  on  this  field,  in  regular 
and  independent  Reformed  churches  for  a  quarter  century  (1817- 
1843).  His  only  other  field  was  Hackensack  (1843-1871).  He  died  as 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Hackensack  in  1881.  The  next 
ministers  were,  Rev.  Samuel  Van  Vechten  (cf  Mapletown),  Rev. 
Douw  Van  Olinda  (cf  Mapletown),  and  Herman  B.  Stryker  (cf  St. 
Johnsville).  The  work  was  given  up  about  1835,  and  it  was  not  until 
1894  that  the  present  Johnstown  church  was  organized.  The  Fonda 
records  are  dated  1800,  Philip  Miller  and  Christian  Yaney  being 
elected  elders.  A  re-incorporation  is  recorded  in  April,  1813.  Rev. 
Peter  Domier,  a  Lutheran,  organized  on  Christmas  day,  1821,  a  Dutch 
Lutheran  church  at  Johnstown  (cf  Palatine  Stone  Dutch  church). 
Rev.  John  Taylor  (1802)  speaks  of  the  "elegant  Scotch  Presbyterian 
church"  in  Johnstown,  Rev.  Simon  Hoseck,  pastor;  also  of  the  Epis- 
copal church  and  its  organ,  Rev.  John  Erquahart,  rector,  and  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  church  where  Dominie  Van  Home  preaches. 

Tho  this  church  was  in  Schenectady  county  it  was 
MARIAVILLE  in  the  Montgomery  Classis,  being  near  to  the  Flori- 
da church  at  Minaville,  if  not,  indeed,  an  outgrowth 
of  this  church.  It  was  organized  in  1843,  its  only  pastor  of  whom 
we  have  knowledge  having  been  James  Donald,  who  served  the 
church  from  1844  thro  1850.  Mariaville  first  reported  to  the  Fall 
meeting  of  Classis  in  1845. 


122 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASS1S 

Situated    in    Lewis    county,    organized    in    1827. 
MARTINSBURGH     It  was  near  Lowville  on  the  Black  River  Rail- 
road.     Known    only    thro    mention    of    it    in    the 
minutes  of  the  Synods. 

The  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church  of  Mayfield 
MAY  FIELD  was  organized  in  1703,  Abraham  Wells,  Abraham 
Romeyn,  Lucas  Brinckerhoff,  Peter  Snyder,  David 
Becker,  Elisabeth  Turner  and  Mary  Van  Buren  being  charter  mem- 
bers. On  February  20,  1795,  it  was  determined  to  build  the  church 
on  the  "nole"  at  or  near  the  road  leading  from  Mayfield  to  Romeyn's 
Mill  (building  still  standing  near  the  F.,  J.  &  G.  R.  R.).  Mayfield 
cemetery  now  covers  the  original  tract  of  land  that  was  used  for 
building  the  church.  The  first  church  was  thirty  by  twenty,  built  on 
a  half  acre  of  land,  given  by  Abraham  Wells.  Originally  Mayfield, 
with  New  Broad  Alban,  Johnstown,  and  Amsterdam,  formed  the 
Caughnawaga  "Square."  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  was  the  first  preach- 
er, also  at  Amsterdam  (cf)  and  remaind  until  1812.  Rev.  John 
Taylor's  "Journal"  of  1802  speaks  of  the  old  Dutch  church  at  May- 
field  and  its  pastor,  Ten  Eyck.  After  Mr.  Ten  Eyck  left  a  dissension 
arose  resulting  in  a  number  withdrawing  and  building  another  church 
at  what  is  now  called  Munsonville.  These  people  were  called  "Pal- 
merites"  after  their  pastor,  Rev.  Sylvanus  Palmer  (cf  Amsterdam), 
who  was  with  them  so  many  years.  This  second  church  building 
was  taken  down  many  years  ago.  Rev.  Albert  Amerman  (cf  Amster- 
dam) was  here  for  four  years  (1817-1821),  and  Revs.  Douw  Van 
Olinda,  and  Samuel  Van  Vechten,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  under 
Amsterdam.  In  March,  1823  (Fonda  Records),  the  church  withdrew 
from  Montgomery  Classis  and  became  the  Central  Presbyterian 
church  of  Mayfield.  Rev.  Jeremiah  Wood  began  preaching  here  in 
1826,  and  continued  until  1870.  He  died  in  1876.  The  present  Presby- 
terian church  was  built  in  1828. 

A  Reformed  organization  was  once  started  at 
MIDDLETOWN  some  place  in  Saratoga  county  called  Middletown, 
(Half  Moon),  but  this  is  the  only  reference  we 
have  of  the  body.  The  present  name  of  the  town  is  Middle  Grove. 
The  date  of  formation  of  the  society  was  1791.  This  church  is  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  Mapletown  church,  formerly  called  Middle- 
town,  in  Montgomery  county.  Rev.  John  Clost  is  the  only  pastor 
known.      Middletown   was   put   into   the   Washington    Classis   in    1818. 

In  the  town  of  Minden  (Montgomery  Co.)  a  Reformed 
MINDEN     Dutch  church  was  organized  February  12,   1816,  and.  was 

known  as  the  "St.  Paul's  Reformed  Dutch  and  Lutheran 
church."  Peter  Ressner  was  trustee.  (The  Geissenberg  church  in  this 
town  was  a  Lutheran  body). 

This  church  was  collegiate  with  Naumburgh,  six 
NEW  BREMEN  miles  distant.  The  pastors  and  supplies  were  the 
same  as  those  who  preached  at  Naumburgh  (cf). 
New  Bremen  is  now  a  town  of  three  hundred  population  on  the 
Lowville  and  Beaver  River  R.  R.  The  church  was  organized  in  1855, 
and  the  last  meeting  of  Consistory  was  held  in  1876.  The  building 
was  sold  for  $25  by  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions.  The  congre- 
gation was  German,  the  minutes  being  kept  in  this  language.  The 
first  church  building  was  erected  by  the  Lutherans  (as  was  also  the 
case  at  Naumburgh),   but  in   1873   Rev.   Boehrer  built  a  new  church 

123 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

at  a  cost  of  $1,050,  the   Board  of  Domestic  Missions  giving  $650  of 
this  sum.     Classis  disbanded  the  church  in  1900. 

This  was  a  German  Reformed  church  at  first, 
NEW  RHINEBECK  organized  by  Rev.  J.  C.  L.  Broeffle  of  the 
Schoharie  church  in  1788,  and  later  merged 
into  the  present  Lawyersville  church.  Durlach  (Sharon)  organized 
at  the  same  time,  and  New  Boston,  a  mission  station,  were  all  con- 
nected. The  first  settled  pastor  was  Rev.  Christian  Bork,  formerly 
a  Prussian  soldier  under  Burgoyne,  and,  later  with  Col.  Willett,  when 
the  Indians  were  given  their  final  scourging  at  Johnstown,  and  the 
Tories  were  driven  forever  from  the  Mohawk  and  Schoharie  valleys. 
Rev.  Mr.  Bork  began  work  here  in  July,  1795,  tho  he  was  not  in- 
stalled till  August  14,  1796.  The  church  was  one  of  the  charter  mem- 
bers of  the  Classis.  In  1807  the  Lutherans  having  demanded  the 
church  edifice,  built  in  1801,  the  Reformed  church  gave  up  the  prop- 
erty. The  church  was  a  mile  or  more  north  of  Lawyersville  on  a 
part  of  Lot  No.  11  of  Jacob  Borst.  From  the  call  to  Rev.  Mr. 
Labagh  in  1807,  the  congregation  worshipped  in  the  church  at 
Lawyersville.  In  1826  it  was  put  into  the  Schoharie  Classis.  From 
1798  to  1803,  besides  those  above,  Rev.  Winslow  Paige  and  Rev. 
Rynier  Van  Nest  supplied.  Rev.  Mr.  Labagh  was  first  called  to  the 
church  in  1803.  In  1811  he  desired  to  go  to  the  Pompton,  N.  J. 
church,  but  the  churches  (New  Rhinebeck  and  Sharon)  would  not 
dismiss  him.  Five  months  later  Classis  dismissed  him.  In  May, 
1813,  he  came  back  for  a  second  pastorate  of  a  year  and  a  half.  Rev. 
Nichola-s-  Jones  was  pastor  for  five  years  (1816-1821).  Mr.  Jones  well 
illustrated  the  proverb  about  "man  being  born  unto  trouble."  Con- 
sistory records  and  Classis  records  give  him  large  space.  In  1820 
he  was  suspended.  He  did  some  work  on  the  parsonage  and  with 
back  salary  made  a  demand  for  $t,.7<(70,  but  settled  for  $330.04.  He 
later  entered  the  Baptist  church. 

This  church  was  organized  in   1895.     It  was 
NEW  YORK  MILLS     an  Oneida  county  field.     Rev.  Jacob  C.  Berg- 
mans was  the  pastor   for   six  years  after  its 
formation.     He  came  from  the  Congregational  body,  and  on  leaving 
New  York  Mills  in  1901,  he  went  to  Gilboa. 

This     church     reported     to     the     Montgomery 
NORTH  HARLEM     Classis  in   1820.     It  may  be  an  error  for  New 
Harlem  or  Fonda's  Bush   (cf). 

The  town  of  Oppenheim  was  formed  March  18,  1808, 
OPPENHEIM     from  the  western  part  of  the  town  of  Palatine.     In 

the  Fonda  records  are  three  references  between  1816 
and  1822,  anent  the  Oppenheim  church.  There  were  two  churches 
organized,  the  first,  the  "St.  John's  Reformed  church"  in  July  1816, 
which  is  the  present  St.  Johnsville  church  (cf),  and  supplied  by 
Rev.  David  De  Voe  for  six  years  from  1816.  Montgomery  Classis 
received  this  church  on  February  11,  1829,  and  De  Voe  continued  to 
serve  it  until  1830.  It  was  also  called  "Youker's  Bush."  De  Voe 
ordained  the  first  consistory  at  Peter  Kline's  house,  January  4,  1822. 
This  church  had  no  building.  Rev.  John  C.  Van  Derveer,  a  Mission- 
ary of  the  Classis  (1822-1823),  reported  the  Second  Oppenheim  church 
as  "small  and  weak."  On  September  25,  1830,  a  Lutheran  church 
was  organized  at  Eukersbush  (Youkers  Bush).  On  May  15,  1855, 
this  church  was  reorganized  as  a  Reformed  Dutch   Lutheran  church, 

124 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

and  a  building  erected  in  1857.  A  second  church  was  formed  No- 
vember 28,  1821,  and  called  the  "Second  Reformed  church  of  Oppen- 
heim."  In  1826  a  third  society  was  formed.  De  Voe  recorded  not 
only  the  incorporation  of  these  two  churches,  but  the  names  of  the 
consistories  also. 

Originally  in  the  Canajoharie  district  of  Tryon  Co. 
OSQUAKO     Later  it  was  in  the  town  of  Stark  (Herkimer  Co.).     We 

spell  the  name  as  found  in  the  corporate  title  of  the 
church  tho  it  is  found  as  "Asquach,"  "Osquak,"  etc.  The  meaning 
is  said  to  be  "under  the  bridge."  The  record  is  dated  June  3,  1800, 
on  file  at  Fonda.  The  church  was  in  the  town  of  Minden,  the  village 
being  east  of  the  creek  near  St.  Johnsville.  Another  meaning  of  the 
Indian  word  is  "place  of  wolves."  Rev.  Jonathan  Morris  (cf  Amster- 
dam) preached  here  about  1823.  At  this  time  the  consistory  con- 
sisted of  Peter  Whitbeck,  Anthony  Devoe,  Jacob  S.  Moyer  and  Peter 
W.  Philip,  elders,  and  Jacob  J.  Young,  Lewis  Young  and  Jacob  F. 
Bronir,  deacons.  It  was  visited  by  Van  Curler  in  1655,  and  is  a  half 
mile  west  of  Canajoharie  creek.  In  August,  1780,  the  place  was 
devastated  by  the  Indians.  John  C.  Wieting,  a  British  prisoner  (tho 
German)  at  Saratoga,  became  an  American  citizen.  He  began  an 
itinerant  preaching  circuit  about  Greenbush,  soon  afterwards  coming 
to  the  town  of  Minden  where  he  established  two  churches  (Lutheran), 
one  at  the  "Squake"  (Otsquago,  Osquak,  etc-cf),  where  he  built  a 
frame  church  near  the  source  of  the  creek  of  that  name;  a  second 
church  was  erected  at  Geissenberg  ("Goat  Hill")  seven  piiles  from 
the  Squake  church.  The  work  was  begun  in  1750  by  HJoTiHe-f  (cf 
Palatine).  This  was  a  brick  edifice,  with  galleries,  high  pulpit  and 
sounding  board,  and  was  dedicated  in  1806.  It  stood  until  1849.  A 
first  church  built  here  in  1767  was  called  "St.  Paul's  Lutheran  church 
of  Minden."  Rev.  Philip  4lL  (&¥&£  preached  here,  as  also  did  Wieting, 
until  his  death  in  1817.  The  work  prospered  for  a  few  years  and 
then  ceased  altogether.  A  Union  church  was  organized  in  Minden 
in  1807,  of  which  John  Herkimer,  Jacob  Smith  and  Jacob  Tarpenny 
were  the  trustees.  The  records  of  the  Geissenberg  church  are  in 
the  Fort  Plain  Farmers  National  Bank.  The  place  is  now  called 
Hallsville.  John  H.  and  Magdalena  Walbracht  gave  a  half  acre  of 
land  in  1767  to  the  Osquako  church.     Mr.  Pick  was  pastor. 

In  1890  Rev.  John  A.  Thomson  (then  pastor  at 

EAST  PALATINE     Stone  Arabia),  began  a  work  at  East  Palatine, 

the   services  being  held  in  the   school   house   in 

Schneck's  Hollow,  near  the  county  house.     Rev.  Thomson  continued 

to  hold  services  from   1891  thro   1894,   when  the  work  was  given   up. 

The  town  of  Palatine  was  formed  March  7,  1778, 

PALATINE  and    embraced    all    the    county    between    "An- 

STONE  CHURCH     thony's  Nose"  and  Little  Falls,  north  to  Canada. 

On    January    2,    1804,    a    "St.    John's    Reformed 

Protestant  Dutch  church  of  Palatine"  was  organized  (St.  Johnsville). 

What    is    popularly   called    the    "Palatine    Stone    Church"    (Lutheran) 

in  the  town  of  Palatine  became  a  member  of  the  Montgomery  Classis 

on    February    2,    1825.      The    transfer    of    this    organization    from    the 

Lutheran    Synod   to   the    Reformed    Classis   was    brot    about    by    Rev. 

Domier,   who   was   at   the    Stone   Arabia    Lutheran   church    from    1811 

thro  1826,  and  who  had  trouble  at  the  Palatine  Stone  church  toward 

the  close  of  his  ministry  there.     Rev.  Douw  Van  Olinda  was  called 

125 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

to  the  pastorate,  but  in  February  14,  1825,  it  united  with  the  old  Cana- 
joharie  ("Sand  Hill")  church  under  one  pastor.  In  1830  the  church 
is  reported  vacant  and  on  February  7,  1832  Classis  dissolved  the  or- 
ganization. The  property  from  the  beginning  had  always  been  in  the 
Lutheran  body,  and  after  the  original  organization  there  had  been  no 
efforts  made  to  increase  the  membership  or  re-elect  the  consistory 
tho  the  congregation  worshipped  in  the  stone  church.  At  Fonda  is 
a  record  (1820)  of  the  Canajoharie  and  Palatine  church  whose  trus- 
tees were  Henry  I.  Frey,  Alfred  Conkling,  Isaac  Hees,  John  Garlock 
and  George  Getman.  A  Presbyterian  church  of  Palatine  was  or- 
ganized in  1823. 

In    the    north-eastern    part    of    the    town    of    Perth     (now 
PERTH     Fulton   county   and   a   part   of   the    Royal    Grant   given   Sir 

William    Johnson)    a    Dutch    Evangelical    church    was    or- 
ganized  in    1867   with   fifty   members    (Child's   Gazette,    1830). 

This  church  was  an  out-station  of  the  West  Leyden 
POINT  ROCK  church,  and  some  seven  miles  from  that  church 
(Lewis  Co.).  It  was  organized  in  1881,  and  sup- 
plied by  Rev.  John  Reiner  of  the  West  Leyden  church.  In  the  late 
eighties  the  work  was  given  up,  the  Methodists  assuming  charge 
of  it,  and  are  still  conducting  services  there. 

It  was  also  called  'jPLay,"  one  of  the  original  churches 
SACONDAGA  of  the  Montgomery  Classis  (1800),  tho  it  was  or- 
ganized as  early  as  1789.  The  place  was  at  first 
called  "Concord."  The  names  of  the  early  pastors  are  not  recorded, 
but  doubtless,  those  serving  Johnstown,  Mayfield  and  Caughnawaga 
also  frequently  preached  at  Sacondaga.  The  later  organization  was 
in  1842,  and  the  preachers  were,  Revs.  John  A.  Lansing,  Jacob  N. 
Voorhis,  Woodbridge  L.  James  and  Calvin  Case  (1855-1857).  Sacan- 
daga  means  "swamp." 

In  1822  a  Reformed  Dutch  church  was  formed  in 
SALISBURY  Salisbury,  Herkimer  county.  It  was  a  Congregational 
body  at  first.  It  was  supplied  by  Rev.  Samuel  Ketch- 
um  during  1822-1823  and  later,  by  Rev.  David  De  Voe  of  St.  Johns- 
ville  (cf).  A  Presbyterian  church  was  incorporated  here  in  1803,  to 
which  in  1824  Classis  dismissed  the  Dutch  church,  which  became 
part   of  the   Oneida   Presbytery. 

The  first  President  of  the  Classis  of  Montgomery 
SCHOHARIE  was  the  Rev.  Rynier  Van  Nest,  the  pastor  of  the 
Schoharie  church.  The  place  was  also  called,  or  at 
least,  the  church,  "Huntersfield."  Prior  to  its  dismission  to  the 
Schoharie  Classis  in  1826,  this  church  was  pastored  by  Rev.  Rynier 
Van  Neste  (until  1804),  J.  D.  Schoeffler,  and  Paul  Weidman.  The 
organization  of  the  church  goes  back  to  1720  or  1725.  The  pastors  at 
Schoharie   were   accustomed   to  preach   at   Stone   Arabia  after   1730. 

The  place  was  also  called  "Conesville,"  and 
SCHOHARIE  KILL  the  church  here  was  formed  about  1800  or  a 
little  before,  and  continued  until  1846.  Rev. 
Cornelius  D.  Schermerhorn,  ordained  by  Montgomery  in  1804,  was 
the  pastor  for  twenty-eight  years,  from  1802  on.  He  died  in  1830  at 
Canajoharie  (cf  Simms  "Schoharie").  Doubtless  this  organization 
was  placed  in  the  Schoharie  Classis  in  1826,  but  no  mention  is  made 
in  the  record.  About  the  time  of  the  Revolution  the  Reformed 
churches    on    the    Schoharie    were    known    as    "the    churches    of    the 


126 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

Schoharie  Kill."  Included  in  these  were  Brakabeen,  North  Blenheim, 
Gilboa  (Broome),  Prattsville,  Red  Oak,  Huntersfield  and  Windham. 
The  Prattsville  minutes  begin  at  1798.  The  Gilboa  record,  the  oldest 
of  them  all,  bears  the  name  of  Broome,  and  those  of  Prattsville, 
"Schoharie  Kill."  This  last  church,  built  in  1804  and  rebuilt  in  1834, 
together  with  the  village  itself,  will  soon  give  place  to  the  great 
reservoir  being  built  for  New  York  City. 

Organized   in    1770   and   later   merged    into 
SCHOHARIE  LOWER     the  Schoharie  church. 

Organized    in    1808    near    East    Cobleskill, 
SCHOHARIE   MOUNT     and    merged    later    into    the    Howes    Cave 

church.     No  names  of  pastors  given  while 
church  was  in  the  Montgomery  Classis. 

Organized  in  1732,  and  later  (after  1800)  it 
SCHOHARIE  UPPER  changed  its  name  to  Middleburgh.  Pastors 
up  to  1826  were,  Revs.  Johannes  Schuyler 
(cf  Stone  Arabia),  Rynier  Van  Nest,  David  De  Voe,  and  John  F. 
Schermerhorn,  the  latter  ordained  by  Montgomery  Classis  in  1816. 
Later  and  for  some  years  Schermerhorn  was  the  Montgomery  County 
Missionary.  From  1828  for  five  years  he  was  the  Secretary  Board 
Domestic  Missions.  Rev.  Mr.  De  Voe,  tho  licensed  in  1808,  was  not 
ordained  until  1812  in  order  that  he  might  study  and  better  perfect 
himself  for  the  ministry. 

This  was  a  small  organization  in  Herkimer  county, 
SCHUYLER  between  Herkimer  and  Frankfort,  where  Henry 
Snyder  supplied  for  a  few  years  about  1830. 
An  earlier  name  for  this  place  was  Dorlach.  It  is  in  the 
SHARON  present  town  of  Seward  (Schoharie  county).  Rev.  Peter 
N.  Sommer  of  the  Schoharie  Lutheran  church  began  to 
hold  services  here  as  early  as  1776.  The  German  Reformed  church 
of  Dorlach  was  formed  in  1788  by  Rev.  J.  C.  L.  Broeffle  of  the  Scho- 
harie German  Reformed  church.  In  1790  a  bell  was  given  to  the 
"High  Dutch  Reformed  Church  of  Dorlach."  But  in  1798  Mr.  Bork 
refused  to  remain  longer  at  New  Rhinebeck  or  Sharon,  unless  a 
church  was  built.  Other  preachers  in  this  church  were,  Rev.  Isaac 
Labagh,  Rev.  Nicholas  Jones.  In  1826  it  went  to  the  Schoharie 
Classis.  In  1813  Sharon  reported  eighty  members.  Read  the  history 
of  New  Rhinebeck  with  that  of  Sharon.  It  was  here  that  the  Battle 
of  Dorlach  was  fought  on  July  10,  1781,  in  which  Capt.  McKean  was 
mortally   wounded    (cf   Buel). 

Another  name  for  the  church  was  the  "Reformed 
STILLWATER  Church  of  Sinthiock"  (Sincock).  It  was  organized 
in  1789  and  ran  thro,  possibly,  twenty  years.  It 
was  a  Saratoga  county  church  and  but  two  pastors  are  mentioned, 
Rev.  Winslow  Paige  (cf-  Florida)  and  Rev.  Peter  D.  Froeligh  (1802- 
1807),  who  also  supplied  at  the  same  time  Pittstown  and  Tioshock. 
He  was  a  son  of  Rev.  Solomon.  Froeligh,  and  like  his  father,  seceded 
from  the  church  to  form  the  "True  Reformed"  church.  He  died  in 
1827.  It  was  at  Stillwater  where  the  American  forces  encamped  be- 
fore the  Battle  of  Saratoga. 

The   Summit   Reformed    Dutch   church   was   received   into 
SUMMIT     the  Classis  in   1823.     It  was  situated  at  Eminence   (Scho- 
harie  county).      It   never   had   any   settled   pastorate. 


127 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

The  history  of  this  church  begins  in  1767,  when 
TILLABOROUGH     a  grant  of  land  was  given  (115  acres)  for  church 

and  school  purposes  to  encourage  certain 
settlers  who  had  been  placed  upon  the  contiguous  territory.  The 
church  was  built  on  Lot  No.  13  of  Magin's  Purchase.  The 
place  is  about  three  miles  west  of  the  present  village  of  Ephratah. 
One  of  the  owners  of  the  land,  and  one  of  the  givers  of  this  church 
tract  was  the  Rev.  John  Ogilvie  of  New  York  City,  who  had  been 
the  rector  of  St.  Peter's  P.  E.  church  of  Albany  (1749-1764).  He 
died  four  years  after  this  deed  of  land,  aged  fifty-one.  Under  the 
conditions  existing  in  the  province  at  the  time  between  the  Church  of 
England  and  the  Dutch  church  we  are  persuaded  that  there  must 
have  been  some  commercial  reason  for  putting  into  the  deed  the  pro- 
vision that  the  church  must  be  a  Reformed  one.  The  church  for  a 
century  or  more  has  always  had  a  building,  but  never  a  stated  pastor, 
and  for  most  of  the  time  no  congregation.  For  more  than  three 
generations  the  property  has  been  held  by  trustees  who  have  used 
the  same  for  personal  profit.  An  incorporation  is  recorded  April  15, 
1823,  and  a  form  of  re-incorporation  in  1831.  Since  1865  there  has 
been  no  consistory  or  membership  even.  Nearly  all  the  men  who 
were  at  Stone  Arabia,  and  later,  at  Ephratah,  have  supplied  the 
church  at  intervals.  In  this  field  Revs.  Domier,  formerly  at  Stone 
Arabia  Lutheran,  and  Wack,  so  long  at  "Sand  Hill"  (cf)  finished  their 
ministerial  work.  In  order  to  hold  the  property  the  old  church,  fall- 
ing to  pieces,  was  taken  down  and  another  one  built  in  the  seventies. 
There  is  an  old  forsaken  cemetery  connected  with   the  church. 


S 


ilk 


128 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


I!   3n0epentient  ant)  Receding   a 
fteformeD  Ci)urcl)e0 


-j-HiT.,.    ...    _   „.   „.   _  „.  ^  „.  ^> 


A  Union  church  was  organized  in  1822  and  existed 
AMSTERDAM  for  eight  years.  Rev.  Sylvanus  Palmer  (cf  Maple- 
town)  established  the  work  and  was  its  only  pastor, 
remaining  here  for  eight  years.  Palmer  had  become  a  "Wyckofite" 
after  his  suspension  from  the  ministry  and  also  was  at  Mayfield  and 
Broadalbin. 

An  independent  organization  continued  in  the 
CANAJOHARIE  "Wyckofite"  church,  was  started  here  by  Rev. 
John  J.  Wack  in  1819  after  his  being  dropped  from 
the  Montgomery  Classis  in  1814.  An  incorporation  of  this  church  is 
found  in  the  Fonda  records.  Mr.  Wack  preached  in  this  church  for 
more  than  ten  years  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  John  C.  Toll  (1827- 
1842),  when  the  church  became  extinct.  The  building  was  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  present  village,  and  some  years  ago,  it  was  torn 
down,  its  timber  being  used  in  the  construction  of  the  dwelling  now 
owned  by  O.  C.  Van  Evera.  The  trustees  were  Henry  I.  Frey,  Al- 
fred Conkling,  Isaac  Hees,  John  Garlock,  Jacob  Hees  and  George 
Gartner,  all  found  in  the  membership  of  the  later  Reformed  church, 
organized  in  1827.  A  church  was  built  which  remained  for  many 
years  after  the  services  were  given  up.  Prominent  in  the  work  were 
Hugh  Mitchell,  Gloudy  Van  Deusen,  Rudolph  Dingman,  Anthony, 
Daniel  and  Wessels  Cornue,  Nicholas  and  John  Sweatman,  Dr. 
Jonathan  Shineman,  Bartholomew  Van  Alstyne,  Uriah  Wood,  Lewis 
and  Abraham  Putman,  Peter  and  Martin  Van  Deusen  and  John  Davis. 
What  was  known  locally  of  the  "True  Reformed  Dutch  church"  was 
an  organization  made  up  of  certain  persons  who  seceded  from  the 
old  "Sand  Hill"  church  to  become  followers  of  Rev.  Wack.  They 
organized  this  church  May  26,  1825,  the  preacher  also  supplying  a 
similiar  church  at  Westerlo  (Sprakers)  and  Middletown  (Mapletown). 
Rev.  John  C.  Toll  was  the  pastor  of  this  church  for  five  years  (1822- 
1827),  when  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  new  or  Independent  church 
referred  to  above,  and  remained  till  his  own  death  and  that  of  the 
church  in  1848.  The  first  consistory  were,  Hugh  Mitchell,  Garrett 
Van  Valkenburgh  and  Martin  Van  Deusen,  elders,  and  Rudolph  Ding- 
man,  Jr.,  Henry  Smith  and  J.  G.  Van  Deusen,  deacons.  We  have 
gone  thro  the  records  of  these  churches,  the  main  portion  of  which 
has  to  do  with  the  discipline.  In  1773  a  "Lower  Canajoharie"  church 
is  found  recorded. 

Corwin's    Manual   refers   to   a   seceding  church   at   Cato,   or- 
CATO     ganized  in  1827,  a  defection  from  the  Dutch  church  of  the 
same  place. 

During  the  years  1797  thro  1830  no  less  than  five 

CHARLESTON     Reformed    churches   were   organized   in   this   town 

(Charlestown),  two  of  which  are  spoken  of  under 

These  churches  are  given  a  place  in  this  record  for  the  reason  that  the 
organizations  were  defections  from  the  Dutch  church,  and  in  most  cases 
the  men  serving  them  were  ministers  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  church.  These 
churches  were  of  brief  life,   except  those  that  Wyckoff  and   McNeil  served. 

129 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

the  "extinct  churches."  A  seceding  church  was  started  by  the 
"Wyckofites"  in  1822,  and  from  this  a  second  church  seceded  in  1824 
and,  finally,  in  1829,  an  Independent  church  was  established. 

This  was  another  name  for  "Indian  Castle"  (cf)  in  Her- 
DANUBE  kimer  county.  Rev  S.  Z.  Goetschius,  suspended  in  1824 
by  Montgomery  Classis,  organized  a  church  at  Danube, 
and  on  its  decline  in  1828,  he  re-entered  the  Dutch  church,  supplied 
Canastota  (cf)  for  three  years  from  1836,  then  went  west.  He  also 
preached  at  Osquak  and  Westerlo.  Rev.  Goetschins  furnished  the 
"Wyckofite"  Synod  material  for  a  tedious ,  trial  on  strictly  moral 
lines  of  conduct. 

The  Fonda  records  show  the  incorporation  of  what  has  al- 
GLEN     ways  been  known  as  the  "Wyckofite"  church  of  Glen,  formed 

in  1830.  Rev.  Jasper  Hogan  wrote  an  informing  chapter  on 
this  secession  in  his  "History  of  the  Glen  Church,"  and  it  is  also 
treated  in  the  "Bergen  Classis  History."  The  compiler  of  this  work 
has  recently  filed  in  the  Seminary  at  New  Brunswick  an  almost  com- 
plete set  of  all  the  printed  documents  (some  manuscripts)  of  the 
"True  Reformed  church."  Corwin's  "Manual"  refers  to  an  independ- 
ent Reformed  church  at  Glen  of  which  Rev.  Christian  Paulison  (N. 
B.  Sem.  '26)  was  the  pastor,  who  had  seceded  from  the  Reformed 
church  in  1831,  and,  later,  was  suspended  from  the  "Wyckofite" 
Classis  (there  never  were  but  two  classes,  and  each  in  time  dis- 
solved the  other).  The  church  building  erected  in  1831  is  still  in 
good  condition,  and  is  generally  known  as  the  "White"  church. 
Services  are   held   monthly  in   this  church. 

A  "Wyckofite"  church  was  formed  at  Johnstown  in 
JOHNSTOWN     1822,  and  was  served  by  two  pastors  for  more  than 
thirty  years,   first  by   Rev.   A.   B.   Amerman    (Asso. 
Refd.    Sem.   '16),   who   while   servng  Johnstown   and    Mayfield    (1817- 
181)   was  both  suspended  and  restored,  and  continued  at  Johnstown 
and  Mayfield  thro  1843;  and  second,  by  Rev.  J.  P.  Westervelt  (1845- 
1855).     Both  of  these  men  later  united  with  the  Presbyterian  church. 
The  Johnstown  church  soon  after  Westervelt's  pastorate   disbanded. 
An  "Independent"  Reformed  church  was  organized  in 
MAYFIELD     1821,  and   served   by   Revs.   Amerman   and  Westervelt 
of  the  church  of  the  same  character  at  Johnstown   (cf 
Johnstown  above).     In  the  County  Clerk's  records  at  Fonda  is  shown 
the  incorporation  act,   dated  April   12,   1832,  of  the  "True   Reformed 
Dutch  church   of   Mayfield."     Besides  these   there  was  a   Union    Re- 
ligious Society  incorporated  at  Mayfield  on  April  5,  1813. 

There    was    a    "True    Reformed"    church    organized    by 
OSQUAKO     Rev.     S.     Z.     Goetschius    at    Osquako     ("Asquach"    or 
"Osquak"),    in    the    town    of    Minden,    about    1823,    but 
it  survived  only  a  few  years. 

After  serving  Ovid  (organized  1808  and  in  1828  merged  into 
OVID     Lodi,    organized    in    1800)    for    fourteen    years,    Rev.    Abram 

Brokaw  became  a  "Wyckofite,"  and  was  suspended  by  the 
Montgomery  Classis.  He  at  once  organized  a  "Wyckofite"  church 
at  Ovid  (1822),  and  probably  supplied  it  for  a  while.  In  1838  Rev. 
Archibald  McNeil  became  the  pastor  of  this  church,  and  served  it 
thirty  years,  the  church  dying  with  its  minister.  The  General  Synod 
of  the  True  Reformed  church  met  here  in  1840. 


130 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

A  secession  from  the  old  church  at  Owasco  took  place 
OWASCO     in  1823,  the  first  pastor  to  serve  it  being  Rev.  Archibald 

McNeil  (cf  Ovid),  who  remained  five  years,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Rev.  William  Johnson,  and  after  a  lapse  of  ten  years,  who 
remained  with  the  church  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
(1838-1865). 

A  second  secession  from  the  Owasco  church  took  place 
OWASCO     in    1879   when    Rev.   Alfred    E.    Myers,   pastor,   and    some 

members  of  the  church  withdrew  and  formed  the  Owasco 
Presbyterian  church,  which  Myers  served  six  years  (1879-1885).  The 
church  erected  has  become  the  home  of  the  Owasco  Roman  Catholic 
church.  Rev.  Horace  Chadsey  and  Rev.  Mr.  Hoyt  were  other  pastors 
of  this  church. 

What  was  called  a  "Canajoharie"  church  was 
SPRAKERS  BASIN  formed  by  the  union  of  Sprakers  Basin 
("Westerlo")  and  the  Middletown  (Maple- 
town)  secessionists,  who  were  pastored  by  Rev.  John  C.  Toll  for 
twenty  years  (after  his  suspension  by  Montgomery  Classis  in  1822). 
Toll  died  in  1848. 

A   "True    Reformed    Church"    was   formed   and    in- 

TRIBES  HILL     corporated  at  Tribes   Hill  in   1840.     The  record  is 

on  file  at  Fonda.    This  was  probably  a  development 

of  the  Glen  "Wyckofite"  church.     Beyond  the  County  Clerk's  record 

nothing  is  known  of  it. 


131 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


—    —     - 


H        iaeformeti  Ci)urcl)e0        S 

Capuga  anD  ®enetia  Classes 


Cayuga  Classis 

In  1826  the  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  formed  the  Classis  of  Cay- 
uga by  setting  off  seven  churches  from  the  Classis  of  Montgomery,  as 
follows:  Cato,  Chittenango,  Lysander,  Ovid,  Owasco,  Sand  Beach, 
Six  Mile  Creek.  Of  these  seven  churches  Owasco  and  Sand  Beach 
(Owasco  Outlet)  are  now  in  the  Montgomery  Classis.  The  other 
five  are  extinct  or  are  merged  into  other  churches  (cf).  When  Cayuga 
Classis  was  disbanded  in  1889  Chittenango  was  put  back  into  Mont- 
gomer}'.  In  1851  Cato  was  put  into  the  newly  formed  Classis  of 
Geneva,  but  is  dropped  from  the  roll  of  churches  in  1884.  Ovid, 
divided  by  the  Brokaw  secession  of  1826,  was  finally  merged  into 
Lodi.  Lysander  became  Congregational  in  1883.  Six  Mile  Creek  had 
but  a  brief  existence  (1827-1831).  In  1835  the  Particular  Synod  of 
Albany  sought  to  form  a  new  Classis,  to  be  called  "The  Classis  of 
Oneida."  From  the  Classis  of  Cayuga  were  to  be  taken  Chittenango, 
Canastota,  Jamesville,  Lysander  and  Utica,  while  from  Montgomery 
were  to  be  taken  Frankfort,  Herkimer,  Columbia,  St.  Johnsville  and 
Manheim.  Tho  referred  to  several  succeeding  synods  the  plan  of 
the  Classis  makers  never  materialized.  In  1851  the  Particular  Synod 
of  Albany,  on  request  of  the  Cayuga  Classis  reformed  that  body, 
making  the  Classis  of  Cayuga  to  consist  of  Chittenango,  Cleveland, 
Canastota,  Cicero,  Owasco,  Lysander,  Sand  Beach,  Syracuse,  Utica. 
The  statistical  tables  of  1852  add  the  church  of  The  Thousand  Isles. 
Of  these  churches,  Canastota,  Chittenango,  Cicero,  Owasco,  Owasco 
Outlet  (Sand  Beach),  Syracuse,  Thousand  Isles  and  Utica  were  put 
into  the  Montgomery  Classis  when  the  Cayuga  Classis  was  disbanded 
in  1889.  Of  the  other  two  churches  that  at  Lysander,  organized  in 
1826  by  the  Classis  of  Cayuga,  joined  with  the  Presbyterian  church 
of  the  same  place,  and  formed  a  Congregational  church  about  1883. 
The  church  at  Cleveland  (Oswego  Co.)  organized  in  1850,  became 
Presbyterian  in  1856.  In  1889  the  Classis  of  Cayuga  was  disbanded, 
its  churches  being  placed  in  the  Montgomerj'  Classis.  The  churches 
received  by  Montgomery  Classis  were  Canastota,  Chittenago,  Cicero, 
Lysander,  Naumburgh,  New  Bremen,  Point  Rock,  Owasco,  Owasco 
Outlet,  Syracuse,  Thousand  Isles,  Utica,  and  West  Leyden.  Other 
churches  which  were  in  membership  in  the  Cayuga  Classis  before 
the  Classis  of  Geneva  was  formed  in  1851,  were  as  follows:  Arcadia, 
Caroline,  Farmerville,  Gorham,  Geneva,  Ithaca,  Jamesville,  Lodi,  Tyre, 
Piffardinia,  Wolcott.  Of  these  churches  Arcadia,  Caroline,  Farmer- 
ville, Geneva,  Gorham,  Ithaca,  Piffardina,  Tyre  and  Wolcott  were 
placed  in  the  Geneva  Classis  when  formed  in  May,  1851.     Unless  re- 

The  Churches  and  Ministry  of  the  Classes  of  Cayuga  and  Geneva,  being 
more  or  less  associated  with  those  of  Montgomery,  are  included,  with  brief 
reference,  in  these  records.  The  printed  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  Minutes, 
except  a  few  copies  found  by  the  writer,  are  lacking  for  the  first  twenty 
years,  and  for  the  next  forty  years  they  are  cruelly  condensed  (for  history's 
sake),  and  typographically  much  in  error. 

132 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

ferred  to  in  this  part  of  the  record  that  has  to  do  with  the  Cayuga  and 
Geneva  Classes,  the  churches  mentioned  above  or  below  will  be  found 
in  the  Montgomery  Classis  lists. 

Geneva  Classis 

The  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  in  1851  organized  the  Classis  of 
Geneva,  making  it  to  consist  of  the  following  churches:  Arcadia, 
Caroline,  Cato,  Farmerville,  Geneva,  Gorham,  Ithaca,  Piffardinia,  Tyre 
Wolcott.  In  the  statistical  tables  of  1852  (P.  S.  A.  Minutes)  are  added 
Lodi,  Pultneyville  and  Waterloo.  Corwin's  Digest  adds  Buffalo, 
Clymer  and  Rochester,  tho  these  do  not  occur  in  the  statistics  until 
1853.  In  this  same  year  Cataline  (error  for  Caroline)  is  added  and 
Gorham  and  Piffardinia  are  dropped.  In  1887  the  Classis  of  Geneva 
was  disbanded,  the  churches  going  into  the  recently  formed  Classis 
of  Rochester.  At  this  time  the  Classis  of  Geneva  had  these  churches 
in  membership:  Abbe,  Clymer,  Farmer  Village,  Marion,  Pultneyville, 
Arcadia,  Dunkirk,  Geneva,  Mina,  Rochester,  Caroline,  East  William- 
son, Lodi,  Ontario,  Tyre.  There  were  two  thousand  members  in 
these  churches  and  fifteen  hundred  in  the  Sunday  schools.  Fifteen 
ministers  were  members  and  $11,000  was  raised  for  congregational  ex- 
penses during  the  year  previous  to  disbanding.  In  1887  the  Particular 
Synod  of  Albany  organized  the  Classis  of  Rochester,  to  take  the  place 
of  the  Classis  of  Geneva.  The  churches  forming  the  Classis  of 
Rochester  were  as  follows:  Abbe,  Arcadia,  Clymer,  East  Williamson, 
Farmer  Village,  Geneva,  Lodi,  Marion,  Dunkirk,  Pultneyville,  Pal- 
myra, Rochester,  First  and  Second  Tyre,  Ontario.  Of  these  churches 
Lodi  and  Farmer  Village  (Interlaken)  are  now  in  Montgomery 
Classis.  Dunkirk,  organized  in  1867,  vacant  for  three  fourths  of  its 
nominal  existence,  was  dropped  in  1888.  Geneva  was  disbanded  when 
the  Classis  of  Rochester  was  formed.  The  rest  of  the  above  named 
churches  are  now  in  Rochester  Classis.  Other  churches  which  were 
in  membership  in  the  Geneva  Classis,  not  mentioned  elsewhere,  were 
as  follows:  Buffalo  and  Buffalo  Holland  (1856),  Mina  Corners  (1857), 
Athens,  Pa.  (1859). 


"Q 


133 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


[*]  (Efcurcijes  of  @ 

Capuga  anD  dBenetoa  Cla00e0 

(linrcroriiet)  <2liactofoere 


The  Reformed  church  at  Clymer  (Chautauqua  Co.)  was  called 
ABBE  the  Abbe  church  in  memory  of  Mrs.  L.  M.  Abbe  of  Albany, 
who  gave  a  large  sum  of  money  toward  its  erection.  Clymer, 
formed  in  1821,  was  named  after  Gen.  Clymer,  one  of  the  signers  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence.  Organized  in  1869,  it  is  today  a 
prosperous  church  in  the  Rochester  Classis  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
members.  (The  Clymer  Hill  church  is  another  organization  of  1853.) 
This  church  was  also  called  "Fairville"  (Wayne  Co.)  and 
ARCADIA  was  organized  in  1835  by  the  Classis  of  Cayuga.  Among 
the  pastors  were  Rev.  Elbert  Nevius  (1835-1836),  the 
famous  missionary  to  Borneo;  Rev.  William  E.  Turner  (1841-1848), 
John  Whitbeck  (1850-1852),  Benj.  F.  Snyder  (1855-1856),  and  Rev. 
W.  E.  Turner  (second  pastorate,  1862-1866).  In  1870  the  organiza- 
tion was  abandoned.  The  Second  Reformed  church  of  Arcadia  (near 
Newark)  was  organized  in  1833  and  is  today  a  church  of  a  hundred 
and  eighty  members  in  the  Rochester  Classis. 

This   was   a   Rradford   county    (Pa.)    organization   of 
ATHENS,   PA.     1858  with  a  reported  charter  membership  of  ninety- 
five.     Its  pastors  were  Rev.  Augustus  F.  Todd  (1858- 
1865),  Rev.  Philip   Berry  (1865-1872),  Rev.  John  F.  Shaw   (1868-1870). 
This   was   a   Cayuga  county  church,   organized   in   1813 
AURELIUS     by    Rev.    Conrad  Tfen    Eyck,    who    served    the    church 
(JWtLe^oZtjblaf       fourteen   years.      There   were   nearby   organizations   at 
Sempronius,  where  Rev.  George  W.  Brinkerhoff  was  prior  to  1812,  and 
Sterling  (named  after  Lord  Sterling).     Rev.  David  R.  De  Fraest  was 
pastor  at  Sterling  during  1825-1828.     The  1855  census  gives  the  Dutch 
church  at  North  Sterling.     Aurelius  was  the  former  name  of  the  town 
of  Owasco  and  was  three  miles  west  of  Auburn. 

This  was  a   Cayuga  county  church,  organized  in  1831  and 

CATLIN     served  for  two  years  (1832-1833)  by  Rev.  Leonard  Rogers, 

who   was   at   Owasco   Outlet   nearby   for   two   years    (1833- 

1834).      He    died    in    1838.      Nothing    further    is    known    of   the    Catlin 

church. 

The   New   York   Gazetteer    (1849)    says   that   the   first   church 

CLAY     organized  in  the  town  of  Clay  was  a  Dutch  Reformed  body, 

whose   meeting   house   was   in   the    north-eastern   part   of   the 

town   of   Clay.      Smith's   "Pioneer   Times   in    Onondaga    County"   also 

refers  to  this  early  Reformed  Dutch  church. 

The    Reformed   church    of    Cleveland    (Oswego    Co.) 
CLEVELAND     was  organized  in  1850,  but  after  a  few  years,  during 
which  it  was  ministerd  unto  by  Rev.   David   B.   Hall 
(cf  Columbia)  and  Rev.  Nathan  W.  Jones.     It  went  over  to  the  Pres- 
byterian body  in  1856. 

Originally  this  Holland  church  was  in  the  Classis 

CLEVELAND,  O.     of  Cayuga,  when  it  was  organized  in  1864.     Rev. 

A.  K.  Kasse  was  licensed  by  the  Geneva  Classis, 

and  after  a  pastorate   at   Pultneyville   (1851-1861)   and   one  at   Buffalo 

134 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSTS 

(1861-1864),  he  went  to  Cleveland,  from  which  he  went  to  the  Second 
Church  of  Paterson,  N.  J.  in  1868,  and  died  as  pastor  of  that  church 
in  1874. 

One  of  the  churches  taken  from  Montgomery  to  form 
GENEVA  the  Classis  of  Geneva.  It  was  organized  in  1831  (On- 
tarion  Co.)  and  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  did  splendid 
work.  At  the  time  that  it  was  the  strongest  church  in  the  Classis 
of  Geneva  it  was  disbanded,  its  one  hundred  thirty  members  dis- 
missed, and  the  church  building  and  property,  worth  $10,000,  was 
sold  to  the  city  of  Geneva  for  $4,000  to  satisfy  a  claim  of  the  Collegiate 
church  of  New  York.  The  city  later  sold  the  property  to  the  church 
of  Rome.  General  Synod  met  at  Geneva  in  1867,  and  at  the  time  there 
were  a  hundred  and  seventy-eight  members  who  gave  $701  for 
benevolence  the  previous  year.  Its  first  pastor  was  Rev.  Henry  Man- 
deville  (1831-1834),  who  later  went  to  Utica  (cf).  Following  him 
were  Rev.  Gustavus  Abeel  (1835-1849),  Rev.  James  Romeyn  (1850- 
1851),  who  died  as  the  pastor  emeritus  in  1859,  a  Boanerges  in  the 
pulpit  of  his  day;  Rev.  Henry  V.  Voorhees  (1851-1854),  Rev.  Jos. 
A.  Collier  (1855-1859),  a  most  successful  pastor,  especially  with  the 
young;  Rev.  Charles  Wiley  (1859-1865)  and  for  ten  years  in  the 
Utica  church  (cf) ;  Rev.  Samuel  J.  Rogers  (1865-1872),  who  later  was 
pastor  at  Fort  Plain  (cf);  Rev.  William  W.  Brush  (1872-1878),  or- 
dained by  the  Geneva  Classis  in  1866  and  installed  over  the  Farmer 
Village  church  (cf ) ;  Rev.  Oppie  (1878-1879),  who  died  in  1880;  Rev. 
William  H.  Nasholds  (1880-1882),  who  went  to  Farmer  Village  next 
(cf);  and  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Strong  (1882-1885-S.  S.),  who  became  a 
Presbyterian  in  1871  at  the  close  of  his  pastorate  in  the  Ithaca  church 
(cf )  that  became  Congregational  in  1872.  Dr.  Strong  was  President 
of  Wells  College  during  1871-1875,  and  of  the  Pennsylvania  Female 
College  at  Pittsburgh  during  1875-1878.  He  was  the  Cor.  Secy,  of 
the  Board  of  Publication  (1859-1868)  and  President  of  General  Synod 
at  both  Geneva  and  Albany  in  1867,  when  the  present  name  of  the 
denomination  was  fixd. 

This    place    was    first    called    "Easton"    then    "Lincoln." 
GORHAM     Organized    in    1843    the    church    at    Gorham    had    but    a 
decade   of  existence,   during  which  time   it  was  pastored 
by  Rev.  Abram  G.  Ryerson,  Rev.  Aaron  Lloyd  and  Rev.  Israel  Ham- 
mond (cf  Owasco). 

The  Reformed  church  of  Ithaca  (Tompkins  Co.)  was  or- 
ITHACA     ganized  on  April  2,  1830,  with  forty  members.     A  month 

after  the  formation  of  the  church  the  people  were  wor- 
shipping in  their  new  edifice,  an  humble  imitation  of  the  Parthenon, 
which  served  them  for  forty  years — the  span  of  life  for  the  Ithaca 
Reformed  Dutch  church.  With  the  coming  of  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  M. 
Tyler  in  1872  to  the  pastorate,  the  church  went  over  into  the  Con- 
gregational body.  Pastors  at  Ithaca  were  Revs.  Alexander  M.  Mann, 
John  C.  F.  Hoes  (cf  Chittenango),  James  V.  Henry,  Charles  H.  A. 
Bulkley,  Joachim  Elmendorf,  John  W.  Schoenck,  Francis  N.  Zabriskie, 
and  Thomas  C.  Strong.  Rev.  Dr.  W.  E.  Griffis  (N.  B.  Sem.  '72) 
served  the  Congregational  church  ten  years,  from  1893.  Ground  for 
the  original  church  was  given  by  Simeon  De  Witt,  the  founder  of 
Ithaca.  A  memorial  tablet  in  the  handsome  new  edifice  of  the  Con- 
gregational body  records  the  names  of  the  pastors  of  the  Reformed 
Dutch  church.     Rev.  Mann  was  the  first  pastor  at  Ithaca   (1831-1837) 

135 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

who,  later  had  a  twenty  year  pastorate  in  the  First  Church  of  Pough- 
keepsie,  his  last  charge.  Rev.  Hoes'  pastorate  was  from  1837  thro 
1845  in  which  year  he  went  to  Kingston  for  his  last  twenty  years 
work.  Here  at  Kingston  he  built  the  stone  church.  He  came  to 
Ithaca  from  Chittenango  (cf).  Dr.  Hoes  died  in  1883.  Rev.  James  V. 
Henry  succeeded  Dr.  Hoes,  coming  from  a  seven  years'  pastorate  at 
Ossining.  He  remained  at  Ithaca  during  the  years  1846-1849.  Rev. 
Henry  died  at  Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  March  14,  1873.  Rev.  Charles  H.  A. 
Bulkley,  a  Presbyterian  followed  who  supplied  the  pulpit  thro  1850- 
1852.  Rev.  Joachim  Elmendorf  began  his  ministry  in  1853,  remaining 
upwards  of  three  years.  Other  pastorates  of  his  were  at  Saugerties, 
First  Syracuse,  Second  Albany  and  in  the  Harlem  Collegiate  of  New 
York.  Rev.  John  W.  Scheneck  (1855-1863),  who  died  while  pastor  of 
the  Claverack  church  in  1881,  at  the  close  of  a  ten  year  pastorate; 
Rev.  Francis  N.  Zabriskie  (1863-1866),  who  later  was  connected  with 
the  "Christian  Intelligencer,"  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  Thomas  C. 
Strong  of  whom  we  have  spoken  at  length  under  Geneva  (cf),  who 
was  the   last  Dutch  pastor    (1870-1871). 

An    Onondaga   county   Reformed   church,   organized 
JAMESVILLE     about  1833  (P.  S.  A.  Min.).     It  was  short  lived,  Rev. 
E.    Evans   serving   it   in   1836,   and   Rev.   Thomas   A. 
Amerman  from  1838  thro  1840. 

"The  First  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  of  Japan" 
JAPAN  is  reported  in  the  1866  General  Synod  Minutes  under  the 
Classis  of  Cayuga.  It  had  a  membership  of  twenty-nine, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  under  Bible  instruction,  and  reported  six 
hundred  and  seventy-four  in  the  Sunday  schools.  Rev.  Samuel  R. 
Brown  (cf  Owasco  Outlet)  and  Rev.  Guido  F.  Verbeck  were  in  charge 
of  the  work. 

This  place  in  Onondaga  county,  was  settled  in  1793. 
LAMSONS     A    New   York    Gazetter   of    1855    refers   to    this   church. 

Elijah  and  Solomon  Toll  were  among  the  first  settlers, 
John  Toll  being  the  first  child  born  here. 

Organized  in   March,   1828,  in  a  small  town  of  Onon- 
LYSANDER     daga    county   by    Rev.    James    Stevenson,    thro    half   a 

century  it  did  good  work.  On  its  organization  it  took 
in  the  Second  Presbyterian  church,  which  was  organized  in  1820,  but 
had  no  building.  Rev.  John  Davenport  was  the  missionary  here.  Dis- 
sension soon  arose,  followed  by  litigation,  the  original  Dutch  church 
winning  in  the  courts.  In  1833  a  Presbyterian  church  was  built  and 
until  1877,  both  churches  prospered.  About  this  time,  however,  a 
union  of  the  two  was  perfected,  forming  the  Lysander  Congregational 
church.  Rev.  James  B.  Stevenson  (cf  Florida)  thro  1827  and  1827,  and 
Rev.  James  E.  Quaw  during  1829  and  1830  did  missionary  work  on  the 
fields.  Other  men  who  were  pastors  or  supplies  were,  Rev.  Aaron  A. 
Marcellus  (1830-1831),  Rev.  Melanchton  B.  Williams  (1834-1855),  Rev. 
Richard  W.  Knight  (1846-1848),  Rev.  J.  W.  Bradford  (1849-1855),  Rev. 
Francis  V.  Van  Vranken  (1861-1866),  Rev.  J.  H.  Enders  (1866-1869), 
who  was  later  at  Chittenango  (cf),  and  Rev.  William  A.  Wurts  (1871- 
1876),  who  was  also  a  pastor  at  Hagaman  (cf).  Of  these  men  Rev. 
Quaw  lost  his  life  on  Lake  Erie  in  1845;  Mr.  Marcellus  spent  most 
of  his  years  in  teaching;  Mr.  Williams  is  unknown  after  leaving 
Lysander;  Mr.  Bradford  in  his  last  years  lived  retired  at  Marathon, 
where   he   died   March   3,   1874. 

136 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

A  Chautauqua  county  church,  called  also  Mina  Corners,  or- 
MINA  ganized  in  1856  and  was  active  for  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
tho  its  name  was  not  dropped  from  the  roll  of  the  Geneva 
Classis  until  1887.  Rev.  John  W.  Dunnewold  while  pastor  at  Clymer 
Hill  Congregational  church  (1851-1868)  supplied  the  church  until 
1860,  and  then  became  pastor  (1860-1808).  He  was  followed  by  Rev. 
Jacob  Weber  and  Rev.  John  Boehrer  (cf  West  Leyden).  Clymer  Hill 
was  in  the  Congregational  body,  but  joined  the  Classis  in  1851,  along 
with  its  pastor. 

The   story  of  this  church,   in   Seneca  county,   is   told   in   con- 

OVID     nection  with   Lodi,  into  which  in   1830,  it  was  merged.     An 

important   institution   of  learning   was   here   for   many   years. 

The  Ovid  Presbyterian  church  was  dismissed  to  the   Classis  in   1809, 

when  Mr.  Brokaw  was  installed. 

A  Livingston  county  Reformed  church,  organized  in 
PIFFARDINA     1847,  and  served  for  a  couple  of  years  by  James  M. 
Compton,  who  spent  most  of  his  ministry  in  Mont- 
gomery   Classis    (cf   Columbia).      Its    name   is    dropped   from    Classis 
after  1852. 

The  Onondaga  county  history  refers  to  the   Plain- 
PLAINVILLE     ville  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church,  situated  in 
the  town  of  Lysander,  and  as  late  as   1850,   speaks 
■of  it  as  being  still  at  work. 

There    was    an    early    organization    at    Pultney- 
PULTNEYVILLE     ville   in   1824,   to   which    Rev.   J.    F.    Morris   min- 
istered, but  the  present  church  (Rochester  Classis) 
was  organized  in  1851.     It  has  a  membership  of  141.      ^..^ OiuXjP 
SEMPRONIUS  and  STIRLING  were  out  stationf  of  &mz£^(ciy** 

A   Cayuga  Classis  organization  of  1827,  which 

SIX   MILE  CREEK     had  but  a  single  pastor,   Rev.   Garret   Mande- 

ville,    who    served   the    church    for   three   years 

from    1831,    when    he   retired    from    the    active    ministry    tho    he    lived 

until   1853.     Received  from  Albany   Presbytery  in   1819. 

This  church,  ajs.o  called  the  "Malcolm  Church,"  was  organ- 
TYRE     iz<?tfV^&v  1836/1^ "tlie    Cayuga    Classis.      It    is    now    in    the 
— -<w-  Rochester   Classis  and   has  a  membership   of  thirty-eight. 
t'f*'  '  Another   name   for   this   church,   which   at   first   was    in 

WOLCOTT  Cayuga  then  in  the  Geneva  Classis,  was  "Fair  Haven," 
and  was  organized  in  1847.  Gov.  Wolcott  of  Connecti- 
cut was  sponsor  for  first  name.  Rev.  Richard  W.  Knight  (cf  Owasco) 
was  the  first  pastor  (1849-1852),  and  was  followed  by  Rev.  John 
Muller  (1854-1857),  who  later  became  President  of  Pleasant  Prarie 
Academy.  Rev.  Cornelius  Gates  was  pastor  during  1857-1859  (cf 
Amsterdam);  Rev.  Thomas  G.  Watson  (1862-1864),  who  died  in  1900, 
while  pastor  of  the  Brighton  Heights  Presbyterian  church.  Rev. 
Benjamin  A.  Bartholf  was  the  next  pastor  (1864-1868),  whose  ministry 
was  partly  spent  in  the  Presbyterian  church.  Rev.  James  L.  Southard 
succeeded  Bartholf  (1869-1881),  and  afterwards  was  ten  years  at 
Buskirks,  and  died  at  Griggstown,  N.  J.,  in  1906.  He  was  the  last 
Reformed  pastor,  the  church  becoming  Presbyterian  in  1882. 


137 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


a 


Ifteformeti  Ctjurctjes 

aipfjafcetkallp  !Lt0teD 


* 


C  .-  ^  ■»■  -.■■-.--■  -■  -  -^^ 


(With   Parenthetic   Explanation! 


Abbe   (Clymer) 

Albany  Bush   (Amsterdam) 

Alexandria  Bay   (Thousand  Isles) 

Amsterdam — First 

Amsterdam  (Albany  Bush) 

Amsterdam  (Port  Jackson) 

Amsterdam — Trinity 

Amsterdam  (Veddersburg) 

Andristown   (Andrustown) 

Arcadia    (Fairville) 

Asquach   (Asquako) 

Athens  (Pa.) 

Auriesville  (Auries  Creek) 

Aurelius  °fr~i> 

Beaverdam  (Roxbury) 
Blenheim  (So.  Gilboa) 
Bowman's  Kill  (Buel) 
Broadalbin  (Fonda's  Bush) 
Buel  (Bowman's  Kill) 
Buffalo 

Buffalo  (German) 
Buffalo  (German) 
Buffalo   (Holland) 

Canajoharie 

Canajoharie  (Sand  Hill) 
Canajoharie   (Sprakers  Basin) 

(Westerlo) 
Canastota 
Caroline 
Cato 

Caughnawaga  (Fonda) 
Charleston  (Charlestown) 
Chenango   (Union) 
Chittenango 
Chukonot   (Florida) 
Cicero 
Cincinnatus 
Cleveland  (N.  Y.) 
Cleveland  (O.) 
Clay 

Clymer   (Abbe) 
Cobleskill 
Coenradstown 


Columbia 

Conesville   (Schoharie  Kill) 

Conewago   (Caugnawaga) 

C^nesvnTe 

Currytown  (Root) 

Danube   (Indian  Castle) 
Day   (Sacondaga) 
Dillenburgh    (Tillaborough) 
Dorlach   (Sharon) 
Duanesborough    (Duanesburgh) 

East  Palatine 

Eminence   (Summit) 

Ephratah 

Eukersbush    (Youker's  Bush) 

Fair   Haven   (Wolcott) 

Fairville    (Arcadia) 

Farmers  Village  (Interlakeh) 

Fayette 

Florida  (Minaville) 

Florida   (Chukonot) 

Fonda  (Caughnawaga) 

Fonda's  Bush  (Broadalbin) 

Fonda's   Bush    (New   Harlem 

and  Johnstown) 
Ford's  Bush 

Fort   Herkimer   (German   Flatts) 
Fort  Hunter 
Fort  Plain 
Fultonville 

Geneva 

German  Flatts  (Fort  Herkimer) 

Glen         7" 

Gorham 

Greenwich 

Hagaman   (Hagaman's  Mills) 
Henderson   (Warren) 
Herkimer 
Herkimer — Second 
Howes   Cave    (Schoharie) 
Huntersfield   (Schoharie) 


138 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 


Uion 

Indian  Castle   (Danube) 

Interlaken    (Farmers   Village) 

Ithaca 

Jamesville 

Johnsborough    (Johnsburgh) 
Johnstown   (Fonda's  Bush) 
Johnstown    (Kingsborough) 

Kingsborough   (Johnstown) 
Klock's   (St.  Johnsville) 

Lamsons 

Lawyersville   (New  Rhinebeck) 

Le  Roy 

Lodi   (Ovid) 

Lysander 

Manheim  (Snell's  Bush) 

Mapletown   (Middletown) 

Mariaville 

Marion 

Mayfield 

Middleburgh   (Schoharie  Upper) 

Middletown  (Mapletown) 

Mina  Corners 

Minaville     (Florida) 

Minden 

Mohawk 

Naumburgh 

New   Bremen 

New  Harlem  (Fonda's  Bush) 

New  York  Mills 

New  Rhinebeck  (Lawyersville) 

North  Harlem 

Ontario 

Oppenheim  (Youker's  Bush) 

Osquako  (Asquath) 

Ovid  (Lodi) 

Owasco  46W^&eD-45S^iey 

Owasco  Outlet   (Sand   Beach) 

Palatine   (St.  Johnsville) 

Palmyra 

Piffardinia 

Palatine — East 

Palatine  Stone  Church 


Perth 

Plainville 

Point  Rock 

Port  Jackson   (Amsterdam) 

Puitneyville 

Rochester 

Root   (Curry town) 

Roxbury   ( BeaverasS&fT 

Sacondaga  (Day) 

Salisbury 

Sand  Beach  (Owasco  Outlet) 

Sand  Hill   (Canajoharie) 

Schoharie    (Huntersfield) 

Schoharie   Kill   (Conesville) 

Schoharie  Lower  (Schoharie) 

Schoharie  Mt.   (Howes  Cave) 

Schoharie   Upper    (Middleburgh) 

Schuyler 

Sempronius  4yfflAniraeiiu.fr) 

Sharon   (Dorlach) 

Six  Mile  Creek 

So.  Gilboa  (Blenheim) 

Sprakers   (Westerlo) 

Snell's    Bush     (Manheim) 

Sinthiock  (Stillwater) 

Stillwater   (Sinthiock) 

Stone  Arabia 
St.  Johnsville   (Palatine) 
Summit   (Eminence) 
Syracuse — First 
Syracuse — Second 

Tillaborough    (Dillenburgh) 
Thousand  Isles  (Alexandria  Bay) 
Tyre 

Union   (near  Chenango) 
Union   (Montgomery  Co.) 
Utica 

Warren    (Henderson) 

Waterloo 

Westerlo    (Canajoharie)    Sprakers 

West  Leyden 

Wolcott   (Fair  Haven) 

Youker's  Bush   (Oppenheim) 


139 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASS1S 


a         laeformeD  Ct)urci)e0 

©f  tfje  Qiontgomerp  Classis,  1915 


- 

m     y     l|l    y    |||     T     ^i    T    y    y    T    T    ^    ■!■    T    ¥    f    ¥    y     'I'     ■■■     H»~^  ' 


Chronologically  Arranged 


1723- 

-Fort  Herkimer 

1798- 

-Mapletown 

1848- 

-Syracuse  First 

1723- 

-Herkimer 

1800- 

-Lodi 

1850- 

-Amsterdam  1st 

1725- 

-Stone  Arabia 

1812- 

-Owasco  Outlet 

1850- 

-Hagaman 

1750- 

-St.  Johnsville 

1823- 

-Ephratah 

1850- 

-Naumburgh 

1758- 

-Fonda 

1827- 

-Canajoharie 

1851- 

-Thousand  Isles 

1770- 

-Manheim 

1830- 

-Interlaken 

1856- 

-West  Leyden 

1784- 

-Florida 

1830- 

-Utica 

1871- 

-Cranesville 

1792- 

-Glen 

1831- 

-Fort  Plain 

1892- 

-Amsterdam — 

1796- 

-Sprakers 

1837- 

-Cicero 

Trinity 

1796- 

-Currytown 

1838- 

-Fultonville 

1894- 

-Johnstown 

1796- 

-Owasco 

1838- 

-Mohawk 

1895- 

—Syracuse  Second 

1798- 

-Columbia 

1839- 

-Auriesville 

1908- 

-Cortland 

These  dates  represent  the  year  of  the  organization  of  the  work  on 
the  field — not  the  year  always  of  the  acceptance  of  church  by  the 
Classis. 


Geographically  Arranged 

Cayuga   Co. — Owasco  and  Owasco   Outlet. 

Cortland  Co. — Cortland. 

Fulton  Co. — Ephratah  and  Johnstown. 

Herkimer  Co. — Columbia,  Fort  Herkimer,  Herkimer,  Manheim 
and  Mohawk. 

Jefferson  Co. — Alexandria  Bay. 

Lewis  Co. — Naumburgh  and  West  Leyden. 

Montgomery  Co. — Amsterdam  First  and  Trinity,  Auriesville, 
Canajoharie,  Cranesville,  Currytown,  Florida,  Fonda,  Hagaman,  Fort 
Plain,  Fultonville,  Glen,  Mapletown,  St.  Johnsville,  Sprakers  and 
Stone  Arabia. 

Oneida  Co. — Utica. 

Onondaga  Co. — Syracuse  First  and  Second,   Cicero. 

Seneca  Co. — Interlaken  and  Lodi. 


140 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


Membership  of  Classis  in  191 5 

Year  Indicates  Date  of  Joining  Classis 


1873- 

-Rev. 

R.  A.  Pearse 

1909— Rev. 

1881- 

-Rev. 

J.  R.  Kyle 

Rev. 

1890- 

-Rev. 

Ira  Van  Allen 

Rev. 

1896- 

-Rev. 

Joel  Loucks 

1910— Rev. 

1901- 

-Rev. 
Rev. 

H.  C.  Cussler 
C.  F.  Benjamin 

Rev. 
1912— Rev. 

Rev. 

Rev. 
1913— Rev. 
1914—  Rev. 

Rev. 

Rev. 

Henry  Smith 

1902- 
1903- 

-Rev. 

-Rev. 

Rev. 

C.  V.  W.  Bedford 
P.  A.  Wessels 
W.  N.   P.  Dailey 

1904- 

-Rev. 

H.  C.  Willoughby 

Rev. 

Rev. 

L.  H.  Holden 

1915— Rev. 

1906- 

-Rev. 

G.  G.  Seibert 

Rev. 

J.  H.  Brinckerhoff 
P.  S.  Beekman 
Frederick  Perkins 
E.  J.   Meeker 
E.   B.  Van  Arsdale 
J.  H.  Murphy 
O.  E.  Beckes 
J.  A.  De  Hollander 
E.  B.  Irish 
R.  A.  Stanton 
H.  A.  Eliason 
V.  J.  Blekkink 
A.  S.  Van  Dyck 
U.  G.  Warren 


Montgomery  Classis  Ministers 

See  Illustration  on  Next  Page 


1.  Rev.  T.  DeWitt  Talmage 

2.  Rev.  Edward  Lodewick 

3.  Rev.  Evert  Van  Slyck 

4.  Rev.  James  A.  H.  Cornell 

5.  Rev.  Jeremiah  Searle 

6.  Rev.  J.  Romeyn  Berry 

7.  Rev.  Henry  A.  Raymond 

8.  Rev.  John  A.  Liddell 

9.  Rev.  Martin  Luther  Berger 
10.  Rev.  Joachim  Elmendorf 

21.   Rev.  J. 


11.  Rev.  Peter  Q.  Wilson 

12.  Rev.  Isaac  Labagh 

13.  Rev.  James  R.  Talmage 

14.  Rev.  Oscar  H.  Gregory 

15.  Rev.  George  W.  Bethune 

16.  Rev.  A.  Henry  Dumont 

17.  Rev.  James  Murphey 

18.  Rev.  John  A.  DeBaun 

19.  Rev.  John  P.  Spinner 

20.  Rev.  Guido  F.  Verbeck 
Lansing  Pearse 


141 


e^ontgomcrp  Classis  Ministers! 

See  Previous  Page 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 


a  JReformeD  Ctjurct)  30tnt0ter0  a 

©f  ttje  Siontgomerp  Classis 


Abeel,  Gustavus  (1801-1887)  1835-1849— Union  '23— N.  B.  '24 — Geneva. 

Abell,  James   (dl867)   1838-1855— Chittenango. 

Ackerman,   Edw.   G.    (1837-1899)    1874-1879 — Rutgers  '66— N.    B.   '69— 

Currytown,  Sprakers. 
Ackerson,  John  H.  (1810-1852)  1839-1841— N.  B.  '39— Columbia. 
Amerman,  Albert  B.  (1793-1881)  1816-1821— Col.  '12— Asso.  Refd.  Sem. 

'16 — Johnstown,  Mayfield. 
Amerman,  Thos.  A.  (dec.)  1838-1840— Amherst  '27 — N.  B.  '30 — James- 

ville. 
Anderson,     Chas.     (1812-1900)     1879-1883 — Union     '40 — Auburn     '43— 

Owasco  Outlet  (S.  S.) 
Aurand,  Henry  (1805-1876)   1860-1863— Dartmouth  '30 — Columbia. 

Babcock,    Maltbie    D.    (1853-1901)    Syracuse    '79 — Auburn    '82 — Cicero 

(S.  S.)   1881. 
Baehler,    Louis    H.    (1839-1914)    1898-1901— Rutgers    '01— N.    B.    '67— 

Manheim. 
Ballagh,  Wm.  H.   (dl892)   1886-1888— Rutgers  '60— N.   B.  '63— Lodi. 
Barny,   Wm.    F.    (1862)    1893-1896— Bloomfield   Sem.    '93— N.    B.    '09— 

Naumburgh  and  New  Bremen — Milltown,  N.  J. 
Barr,   Robt.    H.    (1851)    1880-1883— Rutgers   '75— N.    B.   '78— Owasco— 

Newburgh,  N.  Y. 
Bartholf,    Benj.    (1835-1908)    1864-1868— Rutgers    '61— N.    B.    '64— Fair 

Haven. 
Bartlett,  John— Pastor  at  Columbia  1811-1814. 
Bassler,  Benj.   (1806-1866)   1838-1866 — Union  '30 — N.   B.   '33 — Farmers- 

ville. 
Beattie,  Jas.  A.    (1861-1915)    1892-1915— Glasgow  Univ.   '85 — Princeton 

'89 — Amsterdam,  Trinity. 
Beattie,  John   (1784-1864)   1838-1844— Union  '06— Buffalo. 
Beaver,  J.   Perry   (1858)    1898-1901— Ursinus  '80— Auburn   '83— Buffalo 

— Coeymans,  N.  Y. 
Becker,  Chas. — -Pastor  at  Naumburgh  and  New  Bremen  1860-1870. 
Beckes,    Oscar   E.    (1868)    1912 — Emporia    Col.    '96— McCormick   '98 — 

Auburn  '99 — Mohawk — Mohawk,  N.  Y. 
Bedford,    C.    V.    W.    (1871)    1902— N.    B.    '97— Johnstown,    Currytown, 

Sprakers,  Hagaman — Hagaman,  N.  Y. 
Beekman,  Peter  S.  (1861)  1893-1901  and  1909— Rutgers  '84— N.  B.  '87 

— Currytown — Johnstown — Johnstown,   N.   Y. 
Beekman,  Theo.  A.  (1856)  1885-1887— Rutgers  '82— N.  B.  '85— Colum- 
bia, Rosendale,  N.  Y. 
Benjamin,    Chas.    F.    (1872)    1901— Rutgers   '98— N.    B.   '01— Thousand 

Isles — Alexandria  Bay,  N.  Y. 
Bennet,  Asa  (1790-1858)  1828-1838— N.  B.  '24— Ovid. 

First  parenthesis  gives  birth,  and  if  deceased,  year;  membership  in 
Classis  follows;  College  and  seminary,  and  year;  then  fields  served  in  Classis; 
address  last.  Cayuga  and  Geneva  classes,  set  off  from  and  returning  to 
Montgomery   are   somewhat   included   in   this  list. 

143 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Bentley,  E.  W.  (1826-1886)  supplied  Canajoharie  in  1881. 

Benson,    Clarence   H.    (1879)    Oct.    1911— Jun.    1912— Univ.    Minn   and 

Macalster    College — Princeton    '08 — Buffalo     (now    in    Rochester 

Classis)— Buffalo,  N.  Y. 
Berger,   Martin   L    (.1839-1910)    1868-1875 — Williams   '59 — Union   Sem. 

'62 — Syracuse  First. 
Bergman,   Jacob    C.    (1861)    1895-1901— Albion   '88— Yale   Div.   '91— N. 

Y.  Mills — Grand  Rapids,  Mich. 
Berry,    Philip    (1837-1889)    1865-1872— Rutgers   '57— N.    B.   '60— Athens 

(Pa.) 
Bethune,    Geo.    W.     (1805-1862)     1831-1834— Col.    and    Dickson    '23— 

Princeton  '26 — Utica. 
Blekkink,,  Evert  J.  (1858)  1894-1899— Hope  '86— N.  B.  '89— Amsterdam, 

Trinity — Holland,  Mich.  Western  Theo.  Seminary. 
Blekkink,  Victor  J.   (1887)   1914— Hope  '09— N.   B.  '12— Canajoharie— 

Canajoharie,  N.  Y. 
Blodgett,    Gaius    M.    (1815-1884)— Union    '34 — Auburn    '37— Columbia, 

Warren   (Licentiate),  Stone  Arabia  1858-1859   (S.  S.) 
Boehrer,  John   (1828-1913)   1856-1862  and  1868— West  Leyden,  Naum- 

burgh  and  New  Bremen. 
Bogardus,  Francis  M.   (1836)   1872-1877— Rutgers  '60— N.  B.  '63— Mo- 
hawk— Asbury  Park,  N.  J. 
Bogardus,  Nanning  (dl868)  1834  and  1858-1868— Fort  Plain,  Sprakers, 

Stone  Arabia. 
Bolsterle,  Geo.  S.  (1876)  1909-1911— Rutgers  and  N.  B.  '09— West  Ley- 
den—N.  Y.  City,  N.  Y. 
Bork,  Christian  (1758-1823)  1796-1798— N.  B.  1795— Sharon. 
Boyd,  John   C.    (1836-1901)    1865-1870  and   1883-1901— Princeton   '55— 

Princeton  Sem.  '63 — Fonda,  Auriesville  and  Sammonsville  (S.  S.) 
Boyd,  Joshua   (1785-1874)   1826-1828 — Union  '14 — Herkimer  Second. 
Bradford,  Wm.  J.   (1795-1874)   1849-1858— Princeton  Sem.  '23— Lysan- 

der    (S.   S.) 
Brandow,  John  H.  (1853)  1886-1888— Rutgers  '83— N.  B.  '86— Mohawk 

—Albany,  N.  Y. 
Brinckerhoff,  Geo.  G.   (1761-1813)— N.   B.  1788— Owasco,  Sempronius. 
Brinckerhoff,  J.  Howard  (1883)   1909— Rutgers  '05— N.  B.  '08— Herki- 
mer—Herkimer,  N.  Y. 
Brokaw,    Abram    (1761-1846)    1796-1822— Queens    1793— N.    B.    1796— 

Lodi,  Ovid,  Owasco. 
Brokaw,   Ralph  W.    (1855)    1877-1882— Rutgers  '74— N.   B.   '77— Herki- 
mer— Utica,  N.  Y. 
Brokaw,  Asahel  (1794-1822)   1865-1867— Columbia. 
Brower,    Cornelius    (1770-1845)     1815-1833— Col.    1792— N.     B.     1793— 

Frankfort,  Arcadia,  Gorham,  Tyre. 
Brown,    Samuel    R.    (1810-1880)    1851-1859    and    1868-1869— Yale    '32— 

Union  Sem.  '38 — Owasco  Outlet. 
Brush,   Wm.   W.    (1843-1878)    1866-1868   and    1872-1878— Rutgers   '62— 

N.  B.  '66 — Farmers  Village,  Geneva. 
Buckelew,   Wm.    D.    (1825-1893)    1851-1854— Rutgers   '48— N.    B.    '51— 

Currytown,  Mapletown.     Also  at  Tyre  1870-1876. 
Bulkley,   Chas.   H.   A.    (1819-1893)    1851-1853— Univ.   N.   Y.   '39— Union 

Sem.  '42 — Ithaca.  . 
Burtis,    Arthur    (1807-1867)    1835-1836— Union    '27— Auburn    '33— Fort 

Plain. 


144 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Campbell,  Jas.  B.  (1840-1911)  1903-1906— Rutgers  and  N.  B.  '70— 
Currytown,  Sprakers. 

Campbell,  Wm.  H.  (1808-1890)  1831-1833 — Dickinson  '28— Princeton 
'31 — Chittenango. 

Carle,  John  H.  (dec.)  1847-1851— Queens  '11— N.  B.  '14 — Mapletown, 
Currytown. 

Case,   Calvin   (1821-1906)   1855-1857 — Rutgers  '48 — N.   B.   '51 — Day. 

Caton,  J.  Collings  (1872)  1901-1904— Princeton  '97— Yale  Div.  '98— 
Fonda — Paterson,  N.  J. 

Centre,  Samuel  (1794-1859)  1824-1826— Middlebury  '19— N.  B.  '23— 
Herkimer  Second,  Johnsburgh. 

Chapman,  Nathan  F.  (1811-1893)  1849-1853 — Rutgers  '44 — N.  B.  '47— 
Canajoharie. 

Chittenden,  Alanson  (1797-1853)  1827-1834— Union  '24— Auburn  '28— 
Charleston,  Glen. 

Clancy,  John  (d)  1855-1861— Florida  (Minaville). 

Close,  John  (1737-1815)  1796-1804 — Princeton  1763 — Middletown  (Sara- 
toga county). 

Coddington,  W.   P.    (dl913)— supplied   First  Syracuse   1886-1888. 

Cole,  Philip  H.  (1864)  1897-1907— Union  '88— Union  Sem.  '89— Syra- 
cuse First — Rome,  N.  Y. 

Collier  Geo.  Z.  (1862)  1890-1896— Rutgers  '83— N.  B.  '86— Thousand 
Isles — Middleburgh,  N.  Y. 

Collier,  Isaac  H.   (1834-1881)   1865-1870— Rutgers  '59— N.  B.  '62— Lodi. 

Collier,  Joseph  A.  (1828-1864)  1855-1859— Rutgers  '49— N.  B.  '52— 
Geneva. 

Compton,  Jas.  M.  (1817-1891)  1847-1850  and  1863-1891— Rutgers  '43— 
N.  B.  '46 — Currytown,  Mapletown,  Stone  Arabia,  Columbia,  Hen- 
derson, Ephratah. 

Consaul,  Gansevoort  D.  W.  (1841-1908)  1868-1879 — Amherst  '59 — 
Princeton  '61 — Fort  Plain,  Mohawk,  Herkimer,  Fort  Herkimer 
(S.  S.) 

Cook,  Seth  (1858)  1910-1914— Auburn  '90— Lodi— Moravia,  N.  Y. 

Cornell,  Jas.  A.  H.  (1818-1899)  1848-1851— Rutgers  '38— N.  B.  '41— 
Syracuse   First. 

Cox,  Henry  M.  (1854)  1882-1890— Rutgers  '76— N.  B.  '79— Herkimer— 
Harrington  Park,  N.  J. 

Crispell,  Peter  (1862)  1894-1902— Rutgers  '48— N.  B.  '87— Utica— Mont- 
gomery, N.  Y. 

Cussler,  Henry  C.  (1866)  1901— Rutgers  '93— N.  B.  '96— Buffalo- 
Fonda — Fonda,  N.  Y. 

Dailey,  Wm.  N.  P.  (1863)  1903— Union  '84— Hartford  Sem.  '87— Am- 
sterdam, Trinity — Schenectady,  N.  Y.     Classical   Missionary  1911. 

Davis,  George  (1860-1914)  1911-1914— Rutgers  '84— N-  B.  '87— Cana- 
joharie. 

Dean,  Artemas  (1824)  1873-1875— Amherst  '42— Auburn  '48— Owasco 
Outlet— Mt.  Carmel,  Pa. 

De  Baun,  John  A.  (1833-1900)  1883-1900— Rutgers  '52— N.  B.  '55— 
Fonda. 

De  Fraest,  David  R.   (1785-1835)— N.  B.  '18— Cato,  Sterling. 

DeGraff,   Garret   D.    L.    (1869-1910)    1909-1910— N.    B.   '01— Cortland. 

De  Hollander,  John  A.  (1875)  1912— Univ.  Mich.  '05— N.  B.  '08— 
Cicero — Irondequoit,  N.  Y. 

145 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Demarest,  James  (1832-1913)  1884-1900— Union  '52— N.  B.  '56— Fort 
Plain. 

Denman,  Mark  A.  (1858)  1891-1897— Washington-Jefferson  '82— 
Princeton  '86 — Canajoharie — Springfield,  Mass. 

De  Voe,  David  (1783-1844)  1811-1844— N.  B.  '08— St.  Johnsville,  Colum- 
bia, Oppenheim,  Manheim,  Henderson,  Warren,  Upper  Schoharie. 

De  Vries,  Henry  (1847)  1877-1882— N.  B.  '88— Thousand  Isles— Peek- 
skill,  N.  Y. 

Dexter,  Rex  Rescum  Hart  (1819-1890)  1884-1887— Auburn  '54— 
Owasco  Outlet. 

De  Witt,  John  (1821-1906)  1849-1850— Rutgers  '38— N.  B.  '42— Cana- 
joharie. 

Dobbs,  John  F.  (1870)  1908-1915 — Lafayette  '97 — Union  Sem.  '00— 
Syracuse  First — Woburn,  Mass. 

Donald,  James  E.   (dec.)   1844-1855— Mariaville. 

Dougall,  Arthur  (1868-1904)  1900-1903— Union  '92— Princeton  '95 — 
Fort  Plain. 

Drake,  Edward  (1871)  1897— Lake  Forest  '94— Auburn  '97 — Lie.  by 
Montgomery   Classis — Minneapolis,   Minn.    (Presb.) 

Drake,  Francis  T.  (1805-1867)  1844-1853— Rutgers  '38— N.  B.  '41— 
Canastota. 

DuBois,  John  (1812-1844)  1843-1845  and  1850-1854— Union  '39— N.  B. 
'42 — Manheim,  Cicero. 

Dumont,  Abraham  H.   (1800-1865)   1826— N.  B.  '26— Union   Church. 

Dunnewold,  John  W.  (1821-1895)  1855-1868— Clymer  and  Mina. 

Dunning,  Edward  O.  (dl'874)  1842-1845— Canajoharie. 

Duryee,  Isaac  G.  (1810-1866)  1859-1862 — Union  '38— Andover  '41 — 
Yale  Div.  '42 — Amsterdam  First. 

Dyer,  David  (dec.)  1841-1843— Fultonville. 

Dyke,  Jacob  (1860)  1903-1909— Hope  '83— N.  B.  '86— Herkimer  (1904) 
— Presb. — East   Moriches,   L.   I. 

Dyke,  Chalmers  P.  (1869)  1900-1903— Rutgers  '92 — N.  B.  '95— Herki- 
mer— Lowell,  Mass. 

Dysart,  Joseph  P.  (1841)  1874-1879 — Union  '65 — United  Pres.  Sem.  '68 
— Glen — Milwaukee,  Wis. 

Dysslin,  John  H.  (dl812)  1788-1812— St.  Johnsville,  Manheim,  Indian 
Castle. 

Edmonson,  James   (dec.)   1868-1886 — Cicero,  Mohawk. 

Eliason,    Harry    A.     (1880)     1914 — Currytown,    Sprakers — Currytown, 

N.  Y. 
Elmendorf,  Joachim   (1827-1908)   1853-1855  and  1862-1865— Rutgers  '50 

— N.  B.  '53 — Ithaca,  Syracuse  First. 
Enders,   Jacob   H.    (1834-1901)    1891-1901 — Union   '58 — Princeton   '61 — 

Chittenango — also  at  Lysander  1866-1869. 
Erler,  John  (1877)  1903-1906— N.  B.  '02— Cicero  (Luth.)  Rockwood,  Pa. 
Evans,  C.  Park— Thousand  Isles   (S.  S.)   1889-1890— Watervliet,  N.  Y. 
Evans,   E. — Stated  supply  at  Jamesville   (Onondaga  Co.)   during  1836. 

Faber,  John  P.  (1878)  1906 — N.  B.  '99 — Auriesville  (S.  S.),  Cranes- 
ville   (S.  S.) — Schenectady,  N.  Y. 

Ferris,  Isaac  (1798-1873)  1820 — Col.  '16 — N.  B.  '20 — Missionary:  Man- 
heim,  Oppenheim,  Danube,   Osquak  and   Herkimer  Second. 

Florence,  Ephraim  W.  (1864)  1899-1904 — Owasco  Outlet,  Currytown, 
Sprakers.      Sidney,   Nova  Scotia   (P.   E.) 

146 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

Fonda,  Jacob  D.   (1793-185(5)  1835-1842— Union  '15— N.  B.  '19— Fonda. 

Force,  Frank  A.  (1850)  1896-1899 — Hope  '76 — N.  B.  '80 — Owasco  Out- 
let—Mt.  Ross,  N.  Y. 

Forsyth,  James  C.  (dec.  1898) — pastor  of  Interlaken  1870-1875   (Pres.) 

Frazer,   Thomas    (1791-1884)    1840-1843 — Currytown,    Mapletown. 

Freeh,  Henry — pastor  at  West  Leyden  and  Point  Rock  1886  and  1887. 

Frederick,  Elmer  E.  (Presb.)  Supply  at  Mapletown  1913. 

Froeligh,  Peter  D.  (1782-1827)  1802-1807— Col.  1799— N.  B.  1801— 
Sincock. 

Furbeck,  Howard  R.  (1878)  1901-1903— Union  '97— N.  B.  '01— Amster- 
dam, Trinity — Annandale,  N.  J. 

Furbeck,  Philip  (1832-1899)  1889-1892  and  1898-1899— Union  '54— N.  B. 
'59 — Fonda,  St.  Johnsville. 

Gardner,  Hugh  B.  (1820-1874)  1860-1864— Yale  '42— Princeton  Sem. 
'49 — Herkimer. 

Garretson,  Garrett  I.   (1808-1853)— Rutgers  '29— N.  B.  '32— Lodi. 

Garretson,  John  (1801-1875)  1859-1864— Union  '23— N.  B.  '26— Cana- 
stota,  Owasco  Outlet. 

Gates,  Cornelius  (dl863)   1856-1857 — Amsterdam  First. 

Gebhard,  John  G.  (1857)  1892-1900— Hope  '78— N.  B.  '82— Herkimer 
— N.  Y.  City,  N.  Y. 

Goetschius,  Stephen  G.  (dl795)  1822-1824— N.  B.  '19— Manheim,  Dan- 
ube, Osquak,  Canastota. 

Grant,  Jas.  Edward  (1872)  1906-1915 — Westminster  Theo.  Sem.  '00 — 
Union   Sem.  '14 — Fultonville — Delaware  Water  Gap,   Pa.    (Presb.) 

Gregory,  Oscar  H.  (1809-1885)  1831-1838— Amherst  '28— Princeton 
Sem.  and  N.  B.  '31 — Farmersville. 

Gray,  John   (1799-1877)    1830-1832— Root   (Currytown). 

Gray,  John  (1792-1865)  1856-1857— Cicero. 

Gros,  Johannes  D.    (1737-1812)   1796-1800 — Canajoharie,  Stone   Arabia. 

Hageman,  Andrew  J.  (1837-1912)  1863-1887— Rutgers  '60— N.  B.  '63— 
Hagaman. 

Haines,  Francis  S.  (1857)  1884-1890— Princeton  '78— Union  Sem.  '83— 
Canajoharie — Goshen,  N.  Y. 

Hall,  David  B.  (1812-1898)  1844-1848— Union  '39— Princeton  Sem.  '41 
— Columbia  and  Henderson  (Cong.  S.  S.).  Also  at  Cleveland, 
N.   Y.    (1850-1853). 

Hammond,  Eben  S.  (1815-1873)  1854-1858— Rutger's  '39— N.  B.  '42— 
Canajoharie,  Columbia. 

Hammond,   Israel   (bl791)   1831-1839  and   1847-1850— Owasco,  Gorham. 

Hammond,  John  W.   (1819-1876)   1856-1859— N.   B.  '48— Mohawk. 

Hangen,  Jacob  W.  (1805-1843)  1832-1836— Columbia,  Warren,  Maple- 
town, Currytown. 

Hansen,  Maurice  G.  (1835-1904)  1887-1893— Rutgers  '56— N.  B.  '59— 
Hagaman. 

Harris,   David   T.    (1846)    1891-1892 — Manheim — West   Copake,   N.   Y. 

Hartley,  Isaac  S.  (1830-1899)  1871-1889— N.  U.  Univ.  '52— Union  Sem. 
'54 — Utica. 

Hasbrouck,  Jacob  R.  H.  (1784-1854)  1814-1830— Canajoharie,  Charles- 
ton, Mapletown,  Currytown. 

Hastings,  Seth  P.  M.  (dl876)  1855-1859— Hamilton  '33 — Auburn  '37 — 
Chittenango. 

147 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Heermance,  Harrison  (1813-1883)  1837-1840— Rutgers  '34— N.  B.  '37— 
Currytown,  Mapletown. 

Henry,  Jas.  V.  (1798-1873)  1846-1849— Central  Col.  N.  J.  '15— Prince- 
ton Sem.  '21 — Ithaca. 

Hewlings,  Geo.  (Hulin,  Geo.)  (1804-1872)  1861 — Union  '26 — Princeton 
Sem.  '31 — Ephratah  (S.  S.) 

Hillyer,  Asa — Missionary  at  Owasco  Outlet  1790f- — rom  Orange,  N.  J. 

Hoes,  John  C.  F.  (1811-1883)  1839-1845— Amherst  '32— Princeton  Sem. 
'35 — Ithaca,  Chittenango. 

Hoffman,  Abraham  (1780-1856) — Pastor  of  Cato  church  1831-1843. 

Hogan,  Jasper  S.  (1867)  1894-1896— Rutgers  '91— N.  B.  '94— Glen- 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 

Hogan,  Orville  J.  (1861)  1899-1909— N.  B.  '93— St.  Johnsville— Closter, 
N.  J.   ' 

Holden,  Louis  H.  (1873)  1904— Yale  '95— Col.  '97— Union  Sem.  '98— 
Utica— Utica,  N.  Y. 

Huntington,  Henry  S.  (1828-1895)  1869-1870— Princeton  '50 — Andover 
and  Princeton  '54 — Owasco  Outlet  (S.  S.) 

Huyler,  Peter  (1876)  1905-1914— N.  Y.  Univ.  '98— Auburn  '01— Syra- 
cuse Second — Rhinebeck,  N.  Y. 

Hyde,  Oren  (1787-1873)— Middlebury  '12—  Princeton  '25— Cicero  (S. 
S.)   1839  (at  Fayette  1833-1873). 

Ingalls,  Wilson   (1809-1899)   1855-1864— Union  '36— Owasco. 

Irish,    Edward    B.    (1886)    1913— Union    '10— N.    B.    '13— Fultonville— 

Fultonville,  N.  Y. 
Ivey,   Robert    (1862)    1903-1905— Auburn   '96— Owasco,   Atlanta,    Ga. 

Johnson,   William    (dec.)— At   Owasco    1835-1865— ("Wyckofite"). 
Jones,    Nathan    W.    (1820-1876)    1853-1854— Rutgers    '50— N.    B.    '54— 

Cleveland  (S.  S.) 
Jones,  Nicholas  (dl839)  1816-1820 — Sharon  and  New  Rhinebeck. 
Jones,    Thomas   W.    (1843-1909)    1870-1882— Rutgers    '64— N.    B.    '67— 

Fonda. 
Jukes,    Charles    (1788-1862)     1830-1834    and    1838-1850 — Glen,    Auries- 

ville,  Ephratah,  Stone  Arabia. 

Kasse,  A.  K.  1851-1864— Pastor  at  Pultneyville  and  Buffalo  (Holland). 
Ketchum,  Isaac  S.   (1796-1836)    1822-1840— N.   B.   '21— Salisbury,   Man- 

heim,   Danube,  Stone  Arabia,   Ephratah,   Columbia,   Herkimer. 
Keerl,  Julius  J. — Was  stated  supply  at  West  Leyden  in  1889. 
Kinney,  Chas.  W.  (1858)  1893-1899  and  1906-1911— St.  Johnsville,  Mo- 
hawk— Schuylerville,  N.  Y. 
Kip,    Francis   M.    (1839-1911)    1870-1883— Univ.    N.   Y.   '64— N.    B.    '67— 

Fultonville,  Auriesville. 
Knieskern,  Joseph  (1810-1895)   1845-1895 — Rutgers  '38— N.  B.  '41 —  St. 

Johnsville,  Manheim,  Indian  Castle. 
Knight,    Richard    W.     (1794-1873)     1841-1873 — Owasco    Outlet,    Cato, 

Lysander,  Wolcott. 
Knox,  Charles  E.   (1833-1911)   1861-1862— Hamilton  '56— Auburn   '57 — 

Union  Sem.  '59 — Utica   (S.  S.) 
Knox,  John  P.    (1811-3  882)   1841-1844 — Rutgers   '30 — N.   B.   '37 — Utica. 
Krum,  Josephus  D.   (1833)   1861-1865 — Rutgers  '58— N.  B.  '61— Florida 

—Ottawa,  Kan.  (P.  E.) 
Kyle,  Joshua  R.  (1833)  1881 — Miami  '59 — Xenia  Sem.  '63 — Amsterdam 

First — Amsterdam,  N.  Y. 

148 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Labagh,     Isaac     (1764-1837)     1801-1811-1813-1814,     1822-1826— Canajo- 

harie,   Stone  Arabia,  Sharon,  New  Rhinebeck. 
Lane,     Gilbert    S.     (1828-1896)     1866-1881— Rutgers    '51 — N.     B.    '54 — 

Florida. 
Lansing,  John  A.    (1824-1884)    1845-1848— Union   '42— N.   B.   '45— S.   S. 

at  Day,  Canajoharie. 
Lansing,   John   G.    (1851-1906)    1877-1879 — Union   '75— N.    B.    '77 — Mo- 
hawk. 
Lansing,  Raymond  (1873-1903)  1897-1903 — Union  '94 — N.  B.  '97 — Glen. 
Lappius,  John   C.   (dl765) — Pastor  at  "Sand  Hill"  church   1770-1774. 
Lawrence,  D.  W. — S.  S.  at  Cicero  1874  and  1875. 
Lawrence,  Egbert  C.  (1845)  1883-1886 — Union  '69 — Princeton  Sem.  '75 

— Auburn  '76 — Thousand  Isles — Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Lawsing,  Sidney  O.   (1846)   1882-1883— Rutgers  '74— N.  B.  '79— Glen— 

Catskill,  N.  Y. 
Lehman,    F.    V.    W.    (1870)    1899-1902— N.    B.    '99— Columbia— Delmar, 

N.  Y. 
Leland,    Hervey    D.     (1862)     1888-1912 — Yale    '85— Union    Sem.    '88— 

Owasco  Outlet — Utica,  N.  Y. 
Lloyd,  Aaron   (1817-1905)   1846-1847— Rutgers  '42— N.   B.  '45— Gorham. 

Lockwood,  John  H.  (1848)  1871-1873 — Williams  '68— Princeton  '71 

— Canastota — Springfield,  Mass. 
Lodewick,    Edward    (1846-1909)    1872-1875— Rutgers    '69— N.    B.    '72— 

St.  Johnsville. 
Lonsdale,  Wm.  J.  (1889)  1904-1910— Hamilton  '01— Auburn  '02 — Union 

Sem.   '04 — Fonda. 
Lord,  Daniel  (1822-1899)  1851-1856  and  1860-1865  and  1878-1899— Univ. 

Penn.  '44 — N.  B.  '47 — Henderson,  Fort  Herkimer. 
Loucks,  Joel  (1853)  1896— Rutgers  '81— N.  B.  '84— Stone  Arabia  (S.  S.) 

in   1895 — Canajoharie,   N.   Y. 

Maar,  Chas.  (1864)  1892-1900— Rutgers  '89— N.  B.  '90— Auburn  '92— 
Owasco  Outlet,  Syracuse  Second — Albany,  N.  Y. 

Mabon,  Wm.  A.  V.  V.  (1822-1892)  1844-1846— Union  '40— N.  B.  '44— 
Buffalo. 

Mallery,  Chas.  G.  (1869)  1890-1904— Rutgers  '96— N.  B.  '99— Syracuse 
Second — Bedminster,  N.  J. 

Mandeville,  Garrett  (1775-1853)  1798-1802— N.  B.  1796— Caroline,  Six 
Mile  Creek. 

Mandeville,  Henry  (1804-1858)  1831-1849— Union  '26— N.  B.  '29— 
Geneva,  Utica. 

Manley,  John  (1810-1871)  1831-1833— Rutgers  '28— N.  B.  '31— Man- 
heim. 

Mann,  Alexander  M.  (1808-1893)  1831-1837— Rutgers  '27— N.  B.  '30 
— Ithaca. 

Manton,  Daniel  E.  (1811-1841)  1836— Amherst  '31— Andover  &  Prince- 
ton '32-'35 — Chittenango. 

Markle,  Josiah  (1829-1898)  1870-1872— Rutgers  '53— N.  B.  '57— Maple- 
town. 

Marcellus,  Aaron  A.  (1799-1860)  1830-1831— Union  '26— N.  B.  '30— 
Lysander. 

Matthews,  Algernon  (1841-1885)  1876-1879— Elizabeth  Col.  (Ger.)— 
N.  B.  '75— Manheim. 


149 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Mattice,  Abram  (1833-1904)  1871-1879 — Rutgers  '58 — N.  B.  '62— Fort 
Plain   (S.  S.) 

McAdam,  Hugh  P.   (1837)   1871-1884— Lodi— Saugerties,  N.  Y. 

McCullum,    Edward   A.— 1891-1899— Fort   Plain— Castleton,   N.   Y. 

McDowell,  Robert  (1760-1841) — Served  the  Duanesburgh  Dutch 
church  1800. 

McFarlane,  James   (dl87l)    1845-1848 — Canajoharie   (student   supply). 

McKinley,  Geo.  A.  (1847)  1876-1877 — Auburn  '77 — Owasco  Outlet — 
Salem,   Ore. 

McLean,  Chas.  G.  (dec.)  1844-1853— Fort  Plain. 

McNeil,  Archibald— Owasco  1823—1824  (S.  S.)  Ovid  (Seceder) 
1838-1868. 

Mead,  Cornelius  S.  (1818-1879)  1849-1859— Union  '41— Auburn  '44— 
Herkimer. 

Merwin,  Miles  T.  (1802-1865)  1862 — Yale  '28 — Union  Sem.  '41— Prince- 
ton Sem.  '42 — Ephratah   (S.  S.) 

Messier,  Abraham  (1800-1882)   1824-1828— Union  '21— N.   B.  '24— Ovid. 

Meeker,  Edward  J.  (1867)  1899-1903  and  1910— Rutgers  '96— N.  B.  '99 
— Mohawk,  Fort  Herkimer  (S.  S.),  Glen,  Auriesville  (S.  S.) — 
Supplied   Ephratah  and  Stone  Arabia — Lodi — Lodi,   N.  Y. 

Meyers,  Abraham  (1801-1886)  1830-1831  and  1837-1844  and  1843-1852 
— Union   '27 — N.   B.   '30 — St.   Johnsville    (2),   Manheim. 

Michael,  Daniel  (1810-1865)  1836  and  1840-1847  (w.  c.)— Rutgers  '33— 
N.  B.  '36 — Licensed  by  the  Montgomery  Classis. 

Middlemas,  Jasper  (dec.)  1844-1847 — Mapletown  and  Currytown  (S.  S.) 

Mills,  Henry  (1786-1867)— Auburn  Prof.  1821-1854— Princeton  1802— 
Owasco  Outlet   (S.   S.) 

Milne,  Charles  (1820-1882)  1849-1853— Rutgers  '42— N.  B.  45— Haga- 
man. 

Minor,  Albert  Dod  (1850-1910)  1879-1910— Rutgers  '76— St.  Johnsville, 
Mohawk,  Fort  Herkimer. 

Minor,  John  (1814-1890)  1873-1886— Rutgers  '42— N.  B.  '45— Amster- 
dam First,  Manheim,  Currytown,  Mapletown,  Sprakers,  Herkimer, 
Cranesville  (S.  S.) 

Moelling,  Peter  A. — Pastor  of  Naumburgh  and  New  Bremen  1880-1884. 

Morris,  Jonathan  F.  (1801-1886)  1824-1832— N.  B.  '24— Glen,  Charles- 
ton, Ephratah,  Stone  Arabia,  Herkimer  Second,  Ford's  Bush, 
Osquak. 

Morse,  A.  G. — Stated  supply  at  Cato  during  1857-1859. 

Moule,  John  (dec.)  1839-1841 — Rutgers  '34 — Princeton  '37 — Owasco 
Outlet. 

Mulford,  Henry  D.  B.  (1859)  1889-1897— Rutgers  '81— N.  B.  '85— 
Syracuse  First — Upper  Red  Hook,  N.  Y. 

Muller,  John   (1826-1910)   1854-1857— Rutgers  '51 — N.   B.  '54 — Woolcot. 

Murphy,  James  (1788-1857)  1834-1843  and  1853-1857— N.  B.  '14— St. 
Johnsville,  Manheim,  Mohawk,  Herkimer,  German  Flatts,  Frank- 
fort, Columbia. 

Murphy,  J.  Harvey  (1882)  1912— Rutgers  '06— N.  B.  '09— Amsterdam 
Trinity — Amsterdam,  N.  Y. 

Murray,  Chester  P.  (1845)  1886 — Princeton  '72 — Princeton  Sem.  '75 — 
Lodi — Cleveland,   O. 

Myers,  Alfred  (1844-1915)  1877-1878— Williams  '66— N.  B.  '68— 
Princeton  Sem.  '69 — Union  Sem.  '70 — Owasco. 


150 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASS1S 

Nasholds,  Wra.  H.   (1850)   1880-1887— Rutgers'  76— N.  B.  '79— Geneva, 

Interlaken — Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Nelson,  Sybrandt  (Presb.)  Supplied  Mapletown  1907-191:2. 
Nevius,  Elbert  (1808-1897)  1835-1836— Rutgers  '30— N.  B.  '34— Arcadia. 
Nott,    Charles    D.    K.    (1833-1904)    1859-1864— Union    '54— Union    Sem. 

'56— N.  B.  '59— Mohawk. 
Nott,  John   (1801-1878)   1861-1878— Union  '23— Andover  '25 — Princeton 

Sem.  '26 — Auriesville  (S.  S.) 

Oppie,  John   (1854-1880)  1878-1879— Rutgers  '74— N.  B.  '78— Geneva. 
Ostrander,  Stephen   (1769-1845)   1792-1793— N.   B.   1792— Missionary  in 
Mohawk  Valley. 

Paige,  Winslow  (1768-1838)  1808-1814 — Dartmouth  and  Brown — Flori- 
da, Stillwater,  Blenheim. 

Palmer,  Chas.  L.  (1869)  1897-1899— N.  B.  '94— Ephratah,  Stone  Arabia 
— Marlboro,  N.  J. 

Palmer,  Frederick  W.  (1860)  1888-1893 — Hamilton  '81 — Auburn  '88— 
Interlaken   (S.  S.)— Auburn,  N.  Y. 

Palmer,  Sylvanus  (1770-1846)  1818-1822— Fonda's  Bush,  Middletown, 
Veddersburgh. 

Parsons,  Andrew  (1830-1900)  1864 — Williams  '57 — Auburn  '60 — Colum- 
bia (S.  S.) 

Paulison,  Christian  Z.  (1805-1851 )— N.  J.  Col.  '22— N.  B.  '26— Glen 
("Wyckofite"). 

Pearse,  J.  Lansing  (1829-1898)  1856-1860— Union  '49 — Princeton  Sem. 
'56 — Hagaman. 

Pearse,  Richard  A.  (1849)  1873— Rutgers  '70— N.  B.  '73— Florida— 
Minaville,  N.  Y. 

Peeke,  Alonzo  P.  (1835)-1900)  1865-1872— Rutgers  '59— N.  B.  '62— 
Owasco. 

Peeke,  George  H.  (1833-1915)  1872-1875— Rutgers  '57— N.  B.  '60— 
Owasco. 

Pepper,  John  P.  (1809-1883)  1837-1845 — Fort  Plain,  Henderson 
(Warren  ). 

Perkins,  Frederick  (1865)  1909 — Hamilton  '89— Princeton  Sem.  '92 — 
St.  Johnsville,  Lodi — St.  Johnsville,  N.  Y. 

Perrine,  Matthew  La  Rue  (1777-1836)— Princeton  Col.  1797— Prof  at 
Auburn   1821-1836— Owasco   Outlet    (S.   S. ) 

Peters,  Joseph  D. — 1898-1910 — Canajoharie,   Hoboken,   N.  J. 

Petrie,  Jeremiah  L.  (1825-1910)  1836-1870 — Union  '46 — Auburn  '49— 
Ilion,   Herkimer. 

Pick,  D.  C.  A.  (dl802)  1788-1800 — Stone  Arabia,  German  Flatts,  Sand 
Hill,  Herkimer. 

Pitcher,  John  H.  (1806-1879)  1831-1833— Union  '27— N.  B.  '30— Herki- 
mer Second. 

Porter,  Chas.  F.  (1861)  1888-1904 — Hamilton  '84 — Auburn  '87 — Lodi— 
Albany,  N.  Y. 

Powell,  Enoch   R.  of  Scotia  (Baptist)  at  Cranesville   (S.  S.)   1914. 

Quaw,  James  E.  (1800-1845)  1829-1830— N.  B.  '28— Lysander  (Mission- 
ary). 

Quick,  A.  Messier  (1839)  1864-1871— Rutgers  '60— N.  B.  '64— Amster- 
dam First — Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

151 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Quick,  John  J.   (bl817)   1855-1871 — N.   B.  '39 — Currytown,   Mapletown, 

Fort  Herkimer. 
Quinn,  Robert  A.   (1803-1853)   1833-1835— N.  B.  '33— Fonda. 

Rawls,  John  (dl~97)  1820-1823— N.  B.  '19— Columbia. 

Raymond,  Henry  A.   (1804-1877)    1831-1833— Owasco. 

Reiner,  John  H. — Pastor  at  West  Leyden  and  Point  Rock  1882-1885 — 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Renskers,  Garret  J.  (1818-1893)   1868-1880— Clymer. 

Richard,  Jas.  (1767-1843) — Yale  1749 — Auburn  Prof.  1823-1843— Owas- 
co Outlet  (S.  S.) 

Riggs,  Alexander  B.  (1842)  1870-1876— Washington  and  Jefferson  '63 
—Auburn  '69 — Union  Sem.  '70— Fort  Plain — Auburn,  N.  Y. 

Robb,  John  (dec.)  1844-1845— Ephratah  (S.  S.) 

Robertson,  Samuel  (1784-1869)  1836-1839 — Williams  '12 — Princeton 
Sem.  '15 — Canajoharie. 

Rockwell,  George   (1821-1897)   1854-1877— N.   B.  '51— Thousand   Isles. 

Rodger,  John  A.  (bl855)  1897-1900— Syracuse  '91— Auburn  '94— Owas- 
co— Skaneateles,  N.  Y. 

Rogers,  Leonard  (1803-1838)  1832-1838— N.  B.  '32— Catlin,  Owasco 
Outlet. 

Rogers,  Samuel  J.  (1832-1910)  1876-1879— Rutgers  '59— N.  B.  '62— 
Fort  Plain.     Also  at  Geneva  1865-1872. 

Romaine,  Benj.  F.  (1820-1874)  1859-1862— Rutgers  '42— N.  B.  '45— 
Canajoharie. 

Romeyn,  James    (1797-1859)    1850-1851— Col.   '16— N.   B.   '19— Geneva. 

Romeyn,  Thomas,  Jr.  (1777-1857)  1800-1806— Union  1797— N.  B.  1798 
— Florida. 

Romeyn,  Thomas,  Sr.   (1729-1794)   1772-1794— Col.   N.  J.   1750— Fonda. 

Roof,  Garret  L.  (1810-1891)  1847-1855— Union  '31— Auriesville,  Glen, 
Amsterdam  First. 

Root,  Oren   (1838-1907)   1890-1907 — Hamilton  '56— Utica. 

Rouse,  Peter  P.   (1798-1832)  1822-1828— Union  '18— N.   B.  '21— Florida. 

Ruhl,  Frederick  (1847-1904)  1891-1895— Rutgers  '72— N.  B.  '84— 
Cicero,  Manheim. 

Ryerson,  Abram  G.  (1817-1887)  1843-1846— Rutgers  '39— N.  B.  '42— 
Gorham. 

Sangree,    Henry    H.    (1857)    1888-1893 — Mercersburg   80— Union    Sem. 

'83 — Currytown,   Mapletown — Philadelphia,   Pa.    (P.   E.) 
Sargent,    Cassius    J.    (1869)    Apr.,    1910-Dec,    1910 — Aubuprn    '01— At 

Owasco  1905-1910 — Liverpool,  N.  Y. 
Sauerbrum,   Louis  F.   (1877)   1904-1905 — Bloomfield  '97 — Princeton   '00 

— Glen — Chester,  N.  J. 
Schenck,  John  V.  N.   (1842-1871)   1865-1867— Rutgers  '62— N.   B.  '65— 

Owasco  Outlet. 
Schenck,    John    W.    (1825-1881)    1855-1863— Rutgers    '45— N.    B.    '49— 

Ithaca. 
Schenck,    Martin    L.    (1817-1873)    1853-1857— Rutgers   '37— N.    B.    '40— 

Fort  Plain. 
Schermerhorn,    Cornelius    D.    (1780-1830)    1803-1830 — Union    1797— N. 

B.  1803— Schoharie  Kill. 
Schermerhorn,    John    F.     (1786-1851)     1816-1827 — Union    1809 — Upper 

Schoharie    (Middleburgh). 

152 


HISTORY   OF  MONTGOMERY   CLASSIS 

Schlieder,    Albert    H.    (1869)    1896— Rutgers    '93— N.    B.    '96— Hacken- 

sack,  N.  J.     Licensed  by  Montgomery  Classis. 
Schlieder,  Frederick  E.   (1838-1915)   1865-1872  and  1890-915— N.   B.   '65 

— West  Leyden. 
Schmitz,   William    (1857)    1892-1901— Rutgers   '81— N.    B.    '84— Fulton- 

ville— Bushkill,  Pa. 
Schoeffler,  J.  D.   (dec.)   1804-1819— Schoharie. 
Schoonmaker,    Richard   L.    (1811-1882)    1880-1882 — Rutgers   '29 — N.    B. 

'32— Glen. 
Schuyler,     Johannes     (dl799) — Supplied     German     Flatts     and     Stone 

Arabia    (1745-1756). 
Searle,    Jeremiah     (1836-1913)     1866-1868 — Rutgers     '55 — N.     B.     '58 — 

Syracuse  First. 
Seeley,   Amos   W.    (1805-1865)    1831-] 836— Union   '28— Princeton    Sem. 

'31— Frankfort.      Also   at   Cicero   1840-1845. 
Seibert,  George  G.  (1867)  1906— N.  Y.  Univ.  '89— N.  B.  '92— Hagaman, 

Owasco — Owasco,  N.  Y. 
Shaw,   John    F.    (1844)    1868-1870— Rutgers    '65— N.    B.    '68— Lysander, 

Athens,  Pa.— Afton,  N.  Y. 
Shelland,   Wm.   H. — Pastor  at   Columbia   1895-1899. 
Slingerland,   Elbert   (1800-1875)   1855-1856  and  1860-1862  and   1865-1875 

— N.  B.  '24 — Chittenango,  Mohawk,  Hagaman. 
Smith,    Chas.   W.    (1883)    1913— Rutgers'    10— N.    B.   '13— Lawyersville, 

N.  Y.     Licensed  by  the  Montgomery  Classis. 
Smith,   Henry    (1863)    1901— Friends   Sem.   '88   (Cong.)    Cicero,   Glen— 

Rifton,  N.  Y.   (W.  C.) 
Smith,    William    H.    (dl880)    1866-1871 — Union    '63— Ephratah,    Tilla- 

borough. 
Snyder,    Benj.     F.     (1826-1889)     1855-1856— Rutgers    '46— N.     B.    '49— 

Arcadia. 
Snyder,    Henry   W. — S.    S.    at    Frankort,    Schuyler,    Herkimer    Second 

(1829-1831). 
Southard,   James    L.    (1844-1906)    1869-1881— Rutgers   '66— N.    B.    '69— 

Wolcott. 
Spinner,  John   P.    (1768-1848)    1801-1848 — German   Flatts,   Herkimer. 
Stanbrough,   Rufus   M.    (1832-1905)    1861-1885— Rutgers   '58— N.    B.   '61 

— Indian  Castle,  Manheim,  Columbia,  Stone  Arabia. 
Stanton,  Royal  A.   (1886)   1914— Rutgers  '09— Western  Theo.  Sem.  '14 

— Ephratah,  Stone  Arabia — Ephratah,  N.  Y. 
Stark,   Jedediah    L.    (1793-1864)    1838-1862— Buel,    Columbia,    Mohawk, 

German  Flatts,  Frankfort. 
Stevenson,    James     B.     (1798-1864)     1827-1854— N.     B.     '27— Lysander, 

Florida. 
Strong,    Thomas    (1824-1890)     1866-1890— Union    '41 — Ithaca,    Geneva 

(S.  S.) 
Stryker,   Herman   B.    (1794-1871)    1822-1834 — Johnsburg,  Warrensburg, 

Amsterdam,  St.  Johnsville. 
Stube,     Charles     F.     (1886)     1913-1914— Hamilton     '10— N.     B.     '13— 

Licensed  by  the  Montgomery  Classis.     Missionary  in   India. 
Swick,  Minor  (1829)  1861-1871— Rutgers  '58— N.  B.  '61— Cato— Flush- 
ing, N.  Y. 
Swits,  Abram  J.   (1785-1878)   1821-1822— Union  '17— N.   B.   '20— Missy. 

in   Classis.     Supplied  Amsterdam   First  July,  1857-July,   1859  and 

Nov.,  1862-Aug.,  1863. 

153 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Talmage,  J.  R.   (1808-1879)    1860-1869— Col.   N.  J.  '26— N.   B.  '29— Chit- 

tenango. 
Talmage,    T.    DeWitt    (1832-1902)    1859-1862— Univ.    N.    Y.    '53— N.    B. 

'56 — Syracuse  First. 
Tarbell,    John     G.     (1794-1880)     1830-1840— Harvard    '20— N.     B.    '25— 

Owasco  Outlet,   Caroline. 
Taylor,    Chas.    F.    (1872)    1906-1909 — Princeton   Sem.   '95 — Union   Sem. 

'96 — Herkimer — Greenwich,    Ct. 
Taylor,    Hutchins — Stated    supply    at    Chittenango    Nov.,    1828 — May, 

1830. 
Ten    Eyck,    Conrad    (1756-1844)    1799-1844— N.    B.    1799— Amsterdam, 

Mayfield  Fonda's  Bush,  Owasco,  Owasco  Outlet  (w.  c.  1826-1844). 
Thatcher,.  Charles  O.  (1842)  1880-1887— Union  '64— Princeton  Sem.  '67 

— Chittenango — Bachellerville,   N.   Y. 
Thatcher,   Daniel — Missionary  from   Orange,   N.  J.  at  Owasco   Outlet 

before   Brokaw   (cf). 
Thomson,  John  A.  (1857)  1887-1891 — Rutgers  '84 — N.  B.  '87 — Sprakers, 

Mapletown,  Stone  Arabia,  East  Palatine — Middleburgh,  N.  J. 
Thyne,   Joseph    B.    (1830-1910)    1899-1910— Union   '58— Xenia   Sem.    '61 

—Glen. 
Todd,    Augustus    F.    (1826-1907)    1858-1865— Rutgers    '55— N.    B.    '58— 

Athens,    Pa. 
Toll,   John    C.    (1780-1849)    1803-1822— Union    1799— N.    B.    1801— Cana- 

joharie,   Mapletown,  Westerlo. 
Turner,   Wm.    E.    (1810-1893)    1841-1848    and    1862-1866— Rutgers    '38— 

N.  B.  '41 — Arcadia. 

Unglaub,   Henry   (1857)    1884-1888 — Bloomfield   Sem.   '80— Naumburgh 
and  New  Bremen. 

Van  Allen,  Ira  (1846)  1890 — Rutgers  '73 — N.  B.  '76 — Owasco,  Mohawk 

— Owasco  Outlet  (S.  S. )      Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Van   Arsdale,    Elias    B.    (1869)    1893-1909    Rochester    CI.)    1910 — Inter- 

laken — Interlaken,  N.  Y. 
Van   Arsdale,   Jacob    (1808-1871)    1850-1864— Rutgers   '30— N.    B.   '33— 

Tyre. 
Van   Benschoten,  Wm.   B.    (1835-1880)    1872-1880— Rutgers   '61— N.    B. 

'64 — Ephratah,  Stone  Arabia. 
Van  Buren,  John  M.   (1811-1892)   1842-1851— Union  '35— Auburn   '38— 

Fultonville. 
Van   Buren,   Peter   (dl832)   1805-1814— Union   1802 — Charleston   First. 
Van  Burk,  John   (1863)   1895-1902 — Oberlin  '91 — Johnstown — Swanton, 

Vt. 
Van  Derveer,   Ferdinand   H.   (1841-1881)   1823— Union  '20— N.   B.  '23— 

Ovid. 
Van  Derveer,  John   (1880-1878)   1822-1823— Col.  N.  J.  '17— N.   B.  '22— 

Mapletown,  Canajoharie,  Oppenheim. 
Van    Doren,    David    K.    (1841-1908)    1869-1873— N.    B.    '67— Currytown, 

Sprakers. 
Van   Doren,  John  Addison   (1815-1886)    1866— Lodi. 
Van  Doren,  John   H.    (1837-1898)    1876-1882— Rutgers  '59— N.   B.   '64— 

Tyre. 
Van  Dyck,  Alexander  S.  (1858)  1915— Col.  City  N.  Y.  '79— N.  B.  '82— 

Syracuse,  Second — Syracuse,  N.  Y. 

154 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASS1S 

Van  Dyck,  Lawrence  H.  (1807-1893)   1861-1867 — Amherst  '30 — Auburn 

'33 — Stone  Arabia. 
Van  Hee,  Isaac  J.  (1868)  1897-1905 — Rutgers  '93 — N.  B.  '96 — Thousand 

Isles,  Fultonville — Detroit,  Mich. 
Van   Home,   Abram    (1763-1840)    1795-1840— Fonda    (Caughnawaga). 
Van    Home,    David    (1837-1867)— Union    '64— N.    B.    '67— Theo.    Sem. 

Refd.  U.  S. — Dayton,  O.     Licensed  by  Montgomery  Classis. 
Van     Keuren,     Benj.     (1800-1865)     1824-1825 — N.     B.     '24— Charleston 

Second,   Mapletown,  Westerlo   (Canajoharie). 
Van   Kleek,  Richard  D.   (1800-1870)   1834-1835 — Union  '22 — N.  B.  '25 — 

Canajoharie. 
Van  Liew,  John  C.   (1806-1861)   1850-1856— N.  B.  '32— Ephratah,  Stone 

Arabia. 
Van    Neste,    Geo.   J.    (1822-1898)    1875-1878— Rutgers    '42— N.    B.    '46— 

St.  Johnsville.     Also  at  Lodi  1853-1865. 
Van  Nest  Rynier  (1739-1813)  1793-1813— Schoharie. 
Van    Olinda,    Douw    (1800-1858)    1825-1831   and    1844-1858— N.    B.    '24— 

Johnstown,     Mayfield,     Union,     Palatine,     Mapletown,     Sprakers, 

Fonda. 
Van    Slyke,    Evert    (1862-1909)     1876-1885— Rutgers    '62— N.     B.    '65— 

Syracuse  First. 
Van  Vechten,  Samuel   (1796-1882)   1823-1824  and  1841-1844— Union  '18 

— N.    B.    '22 — Johnstown,    Mapletown,    Mayfield,    Fonda's    Bush, 

Union,  Fort  Plain. 
Van    Vranken,    Adam    H.    (1824-1880)    1851-1865— Rutgers    '48— N.    B. 

'51— Glen. 
Van  Vranken,   Francis  V.    (1835)    1866-1874  and   1882-1892— Union   '58 

— N.    B.    '61 — Glen,    Fultonville.      Also    at    Lysander    1861-1866— 

Albany,   N.   Y. 
Van    Zandt,    Benj.     (1809-1895)     1862-1869— Union    '33— Auburn    '36— 

Canajoharie,  Sprakers. 
Van    Zee,    Chas.    W.    (1867-1903)    1900-1901 — Rutgers    '90— N.    B.    '93— 

Amsterdam,  Trinity. 
Vaughan,   Jonah   W.    (1851-1913)    1884-1889— Rutgers   '78— N.    B.    '81— 

Owasco. 
Veenhuizen,   A.   B.    (1814-1895)— Pastor  at   Pultneyville   1853-1885. 
Verbeck,   Guido   F.    (1830-1898)    1898— Auburn   '59— (cf   Owasco). 
Vermilye,  Ashbel  G.  (1822-1905)  1863-1871— N.  Y.  Univ.  '40— N.  B.  '63 

— Amsterdam  First. 
Voorhees,   Henry  V.    (1826-1897)    1851-1852— Rutgers   '47— N.   B.   '50— 

Geneva. 

Wack,  Charles  P.   (1807-1866)   1831— N.  B.  '29— Caroline. 

Wack,  John  J.  (1774-1851)  1803-1817— Stone  Arabia,  "Sand  Hill," 
Ephratah,  Stone  Arabia  (Preached  14  years  after  being  dropped.) 

Wales,  E.  Vine  (1816-1878)  1850-1861— Oneida  Inst.  '39— Auburn  '43— 
Sprakers. 

Ward,  John  W.  (1801-1859)  1824-1831— Col.  N.  J.  '21— Princeton  Sem. 
'23 — Union   (Chenango)   Presb. 

Warnshuis,  Henry  W. — 1877-1880— Pastor  at  Naumburgh,  New  Bre- 
men, West  Leyden — Port  Royal,  Va.   (Presby.) 

Warren,  Ulysses  Grant  (1872)  1915— Syracuse  '96— Columbia— Yale 
'99 — Syracuse,   First — Syracuse,  N.  Y. 


155 


HISTORY  OF  MONTGOMERY  CLASSIS 

Watson,   Thomas    G.    (1836-1900)    1861-1869— Hobart   '57— N.    B.    '61— 

Cato,  Woolcot. 
Weber,  Jacob.  1871-1879 — Mina,  West  Leyden — Yonkers,  N.  Y. 
Weidman,  Paul  (1788-1852)  1820-1826  and  1837-1852— Union  '18— N.  B. 

'20 — Schoharie,  Manheim. 
Weidner,   David   C.    (1877)    1902-1905— Rutgers   '99— N.    B.   '02— Haga- 

man — Ridgewood,  N.  J. 
Wells,    Ransford    (1805-1899)    1830-1833   and    1857-1868— Rutgers    '27— 

N.  B.  '30 — Fultonville,  Canajoharie. 
Welles,  Theodore  W.    (1839)   1865— Rutgers  '62— N.   B.  '65— Paterson, 

N.  J.     Licensed  by  the  Montgomery  Classis. 
Wessels,  Peter  A.  (1841)  1882-1884  and  1903— Williams  '76— Drew  '78 

— Auburn  '79 — Columbia,  Auriesville   (S.  S.) — Amsterdam,  N.  Y. 
Westervelt,  John  P.   (1816-1879)   1858-1859— Rutgers  '37— Ephratah. 
Westfall,   Benj.   B.    (1798-1844)    1827-1828  and   1838-18-44— Union   '23— 

N.  B.  '26 — Owasco  Outlet,  Stone  Arabia,  Ephratah. 
Whitbeck,     John     (1812-1888)     1849-1850— Rutgers     '37— N.     B.     '40— 

Arcadia,   Caroline,  Henderson. 
Whitbeck,    Richard    M.     (1838)    1863-1866— Rutgers    '59— N.    B.    '62— 

Mapletown.     At  Tyre  1865-1868 — Lenox,  Mass. 
Whitney,  Wm.  W.   (dl903)   1886-1889— Ephratah   (cf). 
Wiley,    Charles    (1810-1878)    1845-1855   and   1859-1865— Princeton   '31— 

Auburn  '35— Yale  Div.  '36— Utica. 
Williams,   Melanchton    B. — Col.   N.   J.   '14 — Pastor  at   Lysander   1834- 

1837. 
Williams,  Richard  R.   (1843-1915)   1870 — Union  Sem.  '70 — Canajoharie. 
Willoughby,   Henry  C.    (1866)    1904-1915— N.   B.   '96— Fort   Plain— Fort 

Plain,  N.  Y.     (After  February  l,  1916,  Schenectady,  N.  Y.) 
Wilson,   Frederick   F   (1831-.1910)    1870-1872— Rutgers  '58— N   B.   '62— 

Mohawk.     Also  at  Cato  1872-1873. 
Wilson,    Peter    Q.     (1831-1902)     1882-1889— Rutgers    '58— N.    B.    '61— 

Ephratah,   Cranesville. 
Winfield,  Aaron  Burr  (1815-1856)   1844-1851 — Owasco  Outlet. 
Wortman,  Denis  (1836)  1880-1883 — Amherst  '57 — N.  B.  '60 — Fort  Plain 

— East  Orange,  N.  J. 
Wurts,  Wm.  A.   (1838)   1863-1868  and  1871-1816  and  1893-1901— Lafay- 
ette    '59 — N.     B.     '62 — Canastota,     Lysander,     Hagaman — Sharon 

Springs,  N.  Y. 
Wyckoff,    Garret    (1855)     1885-1887— Rutgers    8'1— N.    B.    '84— Curry- 
town — Red  Bank,  N.  J. 
Wynkoop,   Richard    (1798-1842   1826-1827— Col.   '19— N.    B.   '22— Cato. 

Yates,  Andrew  (1772-1844)  1828-1835 — Yale  1793— N.  B.  1796— Chitten- 
ango. 

Zabriskie,  Albert  A.   (1843)   1868-1869— Rutgers  '65— N.   B.   '68— Inter- 

laken — Bloomington,  N.  Y. 
Zabriskie,  Francis  N.  (1832-1891)  1863-1866— N.  Y.  Univ.  '50— N.  B.  '55 

— Ithaca. 


156 


a  IReformet)  (2Dutci))  Ctjurct)  1 
^tstortcai  J15ote0 


Church  Emblem 


The  seal  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America 
dates  back  to  1556,  and  is  built  upon  the  seal  or 
shield  of  Prince  William  of  Orange,  the  leader  of 
the  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands.  The  present 
shield  goes  back  to  its  official  use  in  1826,  when  the 
pillars  were  added  to  give  it  an  ecclesiastical  bear- 
ing. The  stars  at  the  top  of  these  pillars  suggest 
the  heavenly  life.  The  motto  on  the  top  ribbon  is 
Latin  and  means,  "Without  the  Lord  all  is  Vain," 
while  the  nether  ribbon  is  in  Dutch,  meaning,  "Union  makes  Strength." 
The  various  armorial  bearings  on  the  three  shields  originate  from  the 
fact  that  the  Princes  of  Orange  were  also  lords  of  other  principalities. 
When  a  number  of  Provinces  came  under  one  leadership  the  right  to 
make  use  of  the  emblem  of  all  centered  in  one  person.  Thus  we  have 
on  the  large  shield  the  four  shields  of  Nassau,  Katzenelnbogen, 
Vianden,  and  Dietz.  On  the  small  shields  at  the  centre,  composing 
the  second  shield,  are  those  of_  the  united  provinces  of  Cahlons  and 
Orange,  while  the  very  smallest  shield,  which  is  divided  into  squares, 
is  there  by  the  reason  of  the  marriage  of  Jane  of  Geneva  to  one  of  the 
princes  of  Orange.  Tt  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  first  quarter  of 
the  large  shield  bears  the  arms  of  Nassau,  the  capital  of  which  was 
the  birthplace  of  William  the  Silent,  Prince  of  Orange.  It  has  a  lion 
rampant,  surrounded  by  seventeen  billets,  representing,  it  is  said,  the 
union  of  the  ten  states  of  the  Netherlands  with  the  seven  states  of 
Holland,  under  the  rule  of  William.  The  princes  of  Orange  received 
a  recognition  from  the  Emperor,  Charles  V,  which  permitted  them 
to  place  the  Imperial  crown  above  the  helmet,  which  is  the  emblem 
of  bravery  in  time  of  war.  The  Coat  of  Arms  is  now  the  accepted 
emblem  of  the  denomination.  The  armorial  device  fittingly  recalls 
the  glorious  work  of  William  the  Silent,  founder  of  freedom.  Its 
Latin  motto  reminds  the  church  of  its  entire  dependence  on  Almighty 
God,  while  its  Dutch  motto  bespeaks  man's  needed  help,  and  its  pillars 
direct  our  thots  to  the  stars  and  beyond  them  to  the  hills  from  whence 
cometh  our  help. 


The  Dutch  Church  in  the  Mohcnvf?  Valley 

The  Reformed  Church  in  America  is  the  oldest  evangelical  body 
on  the  western  hemisphere.  As  the  pioneer,  therefore,  of  those 
doctrines,-  and  form  of  government,  believed  to  be  the  most  in  har- 
mony with  the  Scriptures,  and  the  American  constitution,  she  oc- 
cupies a  unique  place  in  the  annals  of  the  States.  While  the  Holland 
Dutch  first  came  to  the  New  World  in  1609,  and  at  once  established 


157 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

their  church  and  school,  it  is  noteworthy  that  all  elements  of  the 
Reformed  churches  of  the  American  continent — from  France  and 
Switzerland,  and  the  German  Palatinate — the  churches  of  the  Reform- 
ed faith  established  in  Virginia  (at  times  meaning  the  Atlantic  coast 
lands),  and  Maryland,  and  Pennsylvania — all  turned  to  the  Classis 
of  Amsterdam  (Holland)  for  men  and  money.  The  archives  of  this 
Classis,  from  1582  to  1816,  contain  a  voluminous  correspondence  from 
all  these  fields.  From  1609  to  1664  the  religion  of  the  Dutch  church 
was  the  recognized  religion  of  the  country.  Even  up  to  1693  it  was 
the  most  respected  of  all  of  the  denominations  because  of  its  Christian 
tolerance  and  charity  to  all.  In  1693  the  Colonial  Assembly  of  New 
York  passed  an  act  whereby  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  became 
the  religion  known  to  the  law,  and  from  1693  to  1776,  besides  sup- 
porting its  own  ministry,  the  Dutch  church  was  forced  to  contribute 
to  the  support  of  the  church  of  England.  In  prior  years  the  Dutch 
churches  were  always  accessible  to  the  clergy  of  the  English  church 
who  conducted  the  Anglican  services  in  them.  The  act  of  the  New 
York  Colonial  Assembly  was  the  result  of  the  alliance  of  the  Church 
of  England  with  the  Royal  Cause.  As  a  secondary  result  it  was  the 
rebellion  of  the  colonists  to  the  church  of  England  that  ensued  in  the 
rebellion  of  the  colonies  against  the  English  government.  It  was  not 
so  much  a  religious  as  a  political  rebellion.  The  church  of  England 
wanted  a  hierarchy  in  America  under  foreign  domination,  and  in  New 
York  and  Virginia  was  as  intolerant  as  in  the  mother  country.  When 
the  Revolution  broke  out  every  clergyman  of  the  established  church 
in  New  York,  New  Jersey  and  New  England  was  an  out-and-out  Tory, 
and  this  was  probably  true  of  all  the  other  colonies.  It  was  due  to 
their  inherited  reverence  for  distinction  of  rank.  In  New  York  the 
antagonism  was  so  great  that  in  a  sense  the  Revolution  was  a  re- 
ligious war,  the  members  of  the  established  church  being  loyalists 
and  the  dissenters  all  whigs.  Altho  Washington  was  a  member  of 
the  Church  of  England  all  his  army  chaplains  were  dissenters,  and 
thro  the  war  he  attended  their  meetings.  After  the  war  all  this  was 
changed. 

The  development  of  the  Dutch  church  in  New  Netherlands,  as 
Manhattan  was  first  called,  is  an  interesting  story.  The  church  was 
organized  in  1628  by  Rev.  Jonas  Michaelius,  and  a  small  structure 
built  within  the  Fort  at  the  lower  end  of  what  is  now  New  York  City. 
The  first  minister  at  Fort  Orange  or  Beverwyck  (Albany)  was 
Johannes  Megapolensis,  who  arrived  in  1642.  He  was  the  first 
Protestant  missionary  among  the  Indians  in  America,  antedating  John 
Eliot's  work  in  New  England  by  several  years.  He  learned  the 
Mohawk  language,  regularly  preached  to  them,  received  them  as  mem- 
bers into  his  church,  and  was  on  the  friendliest  terms  with  them,  both 
in  their  tepees  and  in  his  own  home.  In  the  Mohawk  valley  proper 
the  first  settement  of  the  church  was  at  Schenectady,  an  out-station 
of  the  Albany  church  from  1662  to  1670,  when  the  first  definite  or- 
ganization there  is  recorded.  The  first  established  minister  at  Sche- 
nectady was  Rev.  Petrus  Tesschenmacher  (1684-1690),  a  graduate  of 
Utrecht,  who  was  killed  at  the  burning  of  Schenectady  by  the  French 
and  Canadian  Jesuits  on  February  8,  1690.  Schenectady  was  the  most 
remote  settlement  from  Albany  at  this  time,  being  founded  by  Ar.ent 
Van  Corlear  in  1662.  For  a  hundred  years  the  little  congregation 
at    Schenectady    was    exposed    to    the    ravages    of    the    French    and 

158 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

Canadian  fanatics,  twice  suffering  almost  total  extinction.  For  a 
century  the  street  now  called  "State,"  under  whose  pavements  lies 
the  dust  of  the  early  settlers,  was  called  after  1690  the  "Street  of  the 
Martelaers"  (Martyrs).  In  other  Notes  we  have  spoken  of  the  Iro- 
quois, the  efforts  made  to  educate  and  evangelise  the  Indians,  the 
various  missions  among  the  Amerind,  and  in  the  main  portion  of  the 
book  the  work  of  the  churches  west  of  Schenectady.  Ten  years 
after  the  first  massacre  there  the  Rev.  Barnardus  Freerman,  for  so 
he  wrote  his  name,  became  pastor  of  the  church,  and  did  a  great  work 
among  the  Mohawks,  especially.  He  remained  six  years,  but  so 
great  was  his  kindness  and  so  successful  his  work  among  the  Indians, 
that  five  years  later  we  find  the  Mohawks  petitioning  the  Governor 
of  the  Province  for  his  return  to  their  castle.  For  some  reason  the 
treatment  accorded  the  Dutch  ministers  by  these  Aborigines  was  far 
different  from  that  given  to  the  Jesuit  priests.  The  first  church  build- 
ing at  Schenectady  was  destroyed  in  1690,  the  second,  built  in  1703, 
was  converted  into  a  fort  in  1734;  the  third,  built  of  stone,  as  its 
predecessors,  had  the  high  pulpit  and  sounding  board,  raised  seats 
tor  the  men,  lowly  ones  for  the  women.  For  eighty  years  this  building 
was  used,  when  in  1814  a  fourth  structure  was  built  of  brick,  which 
was  burned  in  the  fire  of  August,  1861,  when  the  present  edifice,  one 
of  the  finest  in  the  country,  was  constructed.  The  ministers  of  this 
church  often  itinerated  in  the  Mohawk  valley. 

Reformed  Church  in  America — Doctrine,  Confession,  Custom 

The  Reformed  Church  in  America  is  a  product  of  the  European 
revival  known  as  the  Reformation.  Other  articles  in  this  book  speak 
of  its  history  in  general,  and  in  the  Mohawk  Valley  in  particular,  and 
of  its  progress  or  development  in  America.  In  this  note  we  want  to 
refer,  very  briefly,  to  its  doctrine,  its  confession,  and  its  customs. 
The  basic  belief  or  creed  of  the  Church  is  to  be  found  in  the  Word 
of  God,  which  is  its  rule  of  faith  and  conduct.  Other  expressions  of 
faith  are  accepted  merely  as  guides  for  the  culture  of  the  individual 
soul  or  as  aids  toward  the  administration  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in 
the  church.  A  trinity-statement  of  belief  forms  the  ground-work  of 
the  doctrines  and  confessions  of  the  church. 

The  Belgic  Confession,  formed  in  1561,  puts  in  an  orderly  fashion 
our  belief  in  God,  the  Trinity,  Faith,  the  Church,  Salvation  thro 
Christ,  and  the  Judgment.  Since  1619  it  has  been  tenaciously  adhered 
to  by  the  Reformed  Church  in  America.  While  Calvanistic  in  its 
conceptions  of  the  truth,  its  focus  is  on  Jesus  Christ,  the  world's 
Saviour,  Who  alone  can  impart  the  divine  life. 

The  Canons  of  Dort  is  an  after-growth  of  the  controversy  that 
ensued  the  adoption  of  the  other  two — the  church's  interpretation  of 
the  Confession  and  Catechism.  It  dates  back  to  1618  when  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Europe  met  at  Dordrecht  to 
define  more  clearly  certain  statements  of  the  Belgic  Confession. 
What  is  generally  known  as  the  "Five  Points  of  Calvanism"  was  the 
result  of  this  conference,  and  was  adopted,  later,  by  the  Reformed 
Church  in  America.  In  these  Canons  of  Dort  is  expressed  the  firm 
belief  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  God's  absolute  sovereignty,  in  man's 
original  sin  which  can  only  be  done  away  with  by  divine  regeneration, 

159 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

in  the  necessity  of  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Jesus,  and  in  God's  plan  of 
salvation. 

The  customs  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  America  are,  mainly, 
peculiar  to  its  organization,  settled  fixtures  of  its  constitution  and 
forms  of  worship.  The  General  Synod  has  oversight  of  the  ad- 
ministration and  worship,  the  latter  being  semi-liturgical.  Conse- 
quent with  the  changing  years  and  the  varied  environment  of  the 
church,  the  Constitution,  as  well  the  forms  of  worship  have  under- 
gone change,  yet  there  has  always  been  a  reverent  deference  paid  to 
the  originals,  and  any  change  has  always  first  received  the  approval 
of  the  entire  church.  Among  the  usages  made  prominent  in  the 
Church  is  the  established  order  of  worship,  including  the  responsive 
reading  of  the  Psalter  and  Commandments,  and  the  use  of  the  Lord's 
Prayer  and  Apostles  Creed.  For  three  centuries  now  the  ministry, 
besides  declaring  their  belief  in  and  acceptance  of  the  doctrines  of 
the  church,  have  obligated  themselves  to  preach  on  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism.  The  elders  who  have  the  spiritual  oversight  of  the 
church  often  sit  together  near  the  pulpit,  visit  the  congregation  with 
the  minister  and  must  always  be  present  when  the  sacraments  are 
conducted.  The  entire  service  or  worship  of  the  church  is  centered 
in  the  sacraments,  the  Lord's  Supper  and  Baptism,  regarded  as  signs 
and  seals  of  Christ's  covenant  with  His  people  and  their  expression 
of  love  and  loyalty  to  Him.  Other  forms  are  prescribed  for  the 
ordination  of  the  ministers,  elders  and  deacons,  reception  of  mem- 
bers, catechetical  instruction  arranged  for,  and  other  organizations 
meet  the  varied  social  and  spiritual  needs.  The  weekly  prayer  ser- 
vice is  intended  as  a  school  of  Christ  wherein  piety,  personal  service 
and  brotherly  love  is  taught.  From  the  inception  of  the  church 
there  has  always  been  a  charitable  spirit  of  toleration  toward  all 
other  sects,  and  a  cordial  co-operation  wherever  possible,  with  every 
evangelical  force  making  for  righteousness. 

Reformed  Church  in  America — Development  and  Progress 

The  Collegiate  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  of  New  York  City  is 
the  oldest  Evangelical  church  in  America,  having  been  organized  in 
1628  by  Rev.  Jonas  Michaelius,  tho  in  the  coming  of  the  Dutch  to 
Manhattan  in  1609,  religious  work  was  immediately  begun.  A  third 
of  a  century  later  (1664)  when  New  Amsterdam  surrendered  to  the 
English,  there  were  eleven  Dutch  churches  in  the  Province.  The 
denomination  has  today  more  than  seven  hundred  churches  and 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  members  whose  gifts  for  all 
purposes  last  year  were  nearly  two  and  a  quarter  million  dollars. 
The  story  of  the  development  of  the  church  thro  its  three  centuries 
is  punctuated  with  tragedy  and  triumph,  with  some  errors  of  judg- 
ment, mayhap,  but  withal  a  large-hearted  tolerance  and  a  genuine 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  people  as  a  whole.  Not  long  after 
the  foundation  of  the  work  on  Manhattan  an  effort  was  made  by  the 
English  to  establish  an  official  church.  Domine  Megapolensis,  and  his 
son,  Rev.  Samuel,  who  had  to  do  with  the  terms  of  surrender,  saw 
to  it  that  the  rights  of  the  Reformed  church  were  protected,  and 
religious  liberty  guaranteed  to  the  Province  However,  tho  by  far 
the   stronger   body,   the   Dutch   church   was   compelled   to   pay   tribute 

160 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

to  the  Church  of  England  in  addition  to  supporting  their  own.  They 
had  brot  from  the  Netherlands  their  traditionary  love  for  religious 
freedom,  and  when  the  English,  and  German,  and  French  came,  they 
accommodated  themselves  to  these  peoples,  gave  them  the  free  use 
of  their  churches,  and  afforded  them  services  in  their  mother  tongue. 
In  return  the  English  Governors  gave  their  Church  favorable  grants, 
and   made   the   existence   of  the   Dutch   church   a  very   hard   task. 

Another  impediment  in  the  progressive  development  of  the  Dutch 
church  was  the  administration  of  all  affairs  by  the  Classis  of  Holland 
which  ruled  with  rigidity  for  a  century  and  a  half.  The  discussion 
that  naturally  ensued  over  this  condition  ranged  ministers  and 
churches  into  opposing  camps,  and  much  turmoil  and  strife  was 
engendered.  Perhaps  the  chiefest  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  the 
church  was  the  set  determination  of  the  older  element  to  cling  to  the 
preaching  in  the  Dutch  language,  notwithstanding  the  large  influx 
of  English  speaking  immigrants.  One's  sympathy  is  with  the  Dutch 
of  that  day  whose  antipathy  to  whatever  was  English  was  natural, 
considering  how  they  had  been  treated  by  the  Established  Church 
of  England  or  those  who  represented  that  church — and  considering 
how  the  war  lords  of  England  conducted  their  campaign  against  the 
settlers,  in  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  valleys,  with  the  aid  of  the 
savages.  And  this  suggests  that  the  prescribed  environment  of  the 
field  of  the  Dutch  church  had  not  a  little  to  do  in  the  way  of  re- 
tarding its  development,  since  it  was  around  New  York  city,  in  New 
Jersey,  and  in  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  valleys,  that  the  brunt  of 
the  Revolution  was  felt,  with  the  French  Wars  preceding  and  the 
Border  Wars  following.  The  men  who  made  up  the  Colonial  army 
at  Oriskany,  and  the  members  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  Tryon 
County,  were  almost  wholly  identified  with  the  Dutch  church.  There 
were  twelve  of  these  churches  in  the  Mohawk  valley  to  four  of  the 
Lutheran  and  two  of  the  Church  of  England.  The  conditions  pre- 
vailing in  America  during  most  of  the  eighteenth  century  had  a 
tendency  to  check  the  Holland  immigration  which  had  begun  so 
auspiciously  in  the  seventeenth. 

After  the  Revolution  radical  changes  followed;  the  domination 
of  the  Church  of  England  ceased;  the  General  Synod  was  formed  for 
the  administration  of  affairs  in  the  homeland;  later  on  a  new  tide  of 
Holland  immigration  set  in  and  the  Reformed  Church  began  to  ex- 
pand in  the  west,  notably  in  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Michigan.  One 
of  the  very  first  establishments  in  Manhattan  was  the  organization 
of  a  public  school  whose  teachers  taught  the  rudiments  of  education 
and  at  the  same  time  comforted  the  people  in  their  sorrow  and 
practically  did  the  work  of  the  minister  until  his  coming  in  1628. 
This  school  is  now  the  Collegiate  Institute  of  New  York  City.  Edu- 
cation was  to  be  the  handmaid  of  their  religion,  which  is  evidenced 
to  this  day  in  the  educated  ministry  that  has  thro  these  centuries 
been  one  of  the  cardinal  features  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Some 
historians  point  to  the  names  of  the  English  on  the  first  charter  of 
Queens  (Rutgers)  but  it  was  the  petition  of  the  Dutch  ministers  that 
caused  Queens  to  be  founded.  After  whatever  English  names  appear 
might  have  been  put  ex-officio.  It  was  the  English  who  burned  the 
college  buildings  soon  after  they  were  erected.  Rutgers  College, 
Hope,College,  New  Brunswick  Seminary,  Western  Theological  Sem- 
inary, and  the  other  colleges  and  academies,  in   the  home  land,  and 

161 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

on  the  foreign  fields,  where  the  Reformed  Church  is  working,  testify 
to  the  consistent  attitude  of  the  Church  toward  education  and  religion 
in  their  co-ordinate  relations.  Its  missionary  spirit  has  been  keen 
from  the  very  beginning.  It  was  the  first  to  preach  the  Gospel  to 
the  Red  Men,  while  in  these  latter  days  of  Indian  Mission  work,  the 
name  that  stands  above  every  other,  both  in  the  councils  of  the 
Indian  as  well  in  the  mind  of  the  church,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Government  is  that  of  Walter  C.  Roe.  Within  a  decade  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  the  Reformed  Church  began  a  definite 
work  for  Domestic  Missions.  From  1602  the  Reformed  Church  of 
the  Netherlands  prosecuted  foreign  missions  both  in  the  East  and 
West  Indies.  Modern  Foreign  Missions  began  toward  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  Dutch  Church  of  America,  uniting 
with  the  Presbyterian  and  Baptist  churches,  began  an  aggressive 
campaign  at  once.  Later  (1820)  a  union  was  made  with  the  American 
Board.  In  1832,  while  co-operation  was  still  maintained  with  the 
American  Board,  there  was  a  separate  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  in 
the  Dutch  Church,  and  in  1857  it  became  independent.  Its  principal 
fields  of  operation  are   China,  Japan,   India,  and  Arabia. 

"True  Reformed  Dutch  Protestant  C/iurc/i" 

The  only  defection  that  the  Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  in  Ameri- 
ca has  had  for  its  more  than  two  centuries  of  existence  (except  the 
Christian  Reformed  church)  was  the  schism  known  by  the  above  title, 
but  so  small  and  so  devoid  of  influence  was  this  secession  that  it 
was  hardly  worth  while  to  call  it  a  division.  There  were  but  two 
classes  organized,  one  in  New  Jersey  and  the  other  here  in  Mont- 
gomery county,  popularly  called  the  "Wyckofite"  church  because  one 
of  the  separatists  was  Rev.  Henry  V.  Wyckoff  whose  personality  for 
a  generation  kept  the  schism  alive,  tho  for  the  most  part  thro  the 
years  it  had  but  little  more  than  a  name.  Its  inceptor  was  Rev.  Solo- 
monmon  Froeligh  of  Hackensack,  N.  J.,  a  professor  in  the  church 
seminary  recently  founded,  joined  with  whom  were  Revs.  Abram 
Brokaw  of  Ovid,  N.  Y.,  Sylvanus  Palmer  of  Union  (Montg.  Co.)  N. 
Y.,  Rev.  H.  V.  Wyckoff  of  the  Charleston,  N.  Y.  church,  and  Rev.  J.  C. 
Toll  of  Mapletown,  N.  Y.,  both  in  Montgomery  county.  The  schism 
came  in  1822  and  was  brot  about  largely  by  theT)(limited  atonement" 
preaching  of  Rev.  Conrad  Ten  Eyck  of  Owasco,  formerly  of  the  Re- 
formed churches  of  Amsterdam,  Mayfield,  and  Johnstown.  It  resulted 
in  the  suspension  of  the  above  ministers  from  the  Reformed  Dutch 
church  ministry.  In  1820  General  Synod  (R.  P.  D.  C.)  had  re- 
solved that  the  Particular  Synod  of  Albany  should  organize  a 
new  classis  of  Sharon,  Rhinebeck,  Johnstown,  Mayfield,  Westerlo, 
Middletown,  Fonda's  Bush,  Albany  Bush,  Ovid,  and  the  Second 
Church  of  Charleston,  but  this  the  Synod  of  Albany  refused  to  do 
in  1821,  because  of  the  "disrespect  and  insubordination"  shown  by 
several  of  the  pastors  of  these  churches  of  the  Dutch  church. 
Nothing  daunted,  the  dissenters  met  and  moved  to  suspend 
the  whole  ministry  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church  which 
action  begun  was  not  carried  out.  Later  in  ecclesiastical  differences 
ensuing  between  these  two  classes  each  suspended  the  other  and  in 
terms  that  are  not  current  in  the  language  of  religious  bodies  of  this 

162 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

day.  In  New  Jersey  the  spirit  of  contention  was  centered-  in  the 
Schraalenberg  church  where  one  of  two  pastors  had  obtained  un- 
fairly a  title  from  the  Governor  to  certain  church  property.  Manu- 
script evidence  is  in  hand  of  the  writer  to  show  that  these  men, 
headed  by  Prof.  Froeligh,  were  preparing  for  some  time  for  the 
break.  We  have  gone  thro  the  private  correspondence  of  one  of 
the  malcontents,  and  have  also  looked  thro  the  printed  pamphlets 
and  reports  of  their  General  Synods  which  were  kept  up  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  and  we  have  failed  to  discover  any  logical  basis  for 
separation  or  any  work  the  "Trues"  did  that  was  worth  while.  The 
General  Synods  were  gatherings  largely  of  a  two-fold  nature,  to 
discipline  and  collect  assessments  with  which  to  pay  the  traveling 
expenses  of  the  delegates. 

In  the  articles  of  their  organization  they  solemnly  declared  that 
the  "Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  church"  was  unsound  from  its  head 
to  its  feet,  and  after  excoriating  the  entire  church,  they  de- 
livered them  over  to  Satan  until  they  should  repent.  The  church 
in  1825  numbered  a  score  of  churches  or  congregations  and  about  half 
as  many  ministers.  The  preaching  was  exceedingly  long  and  extreme- 
ly dogmatic.  Secret  societies  were  virulently  attacked.  It  believed 
in  an  unalterable  reprobation.  The  printed  arguments  for  its  rise 
have  a  great  deal  to  say  of  the  evils  of  Antinomianism,  Arminianism, 
Erastianism,  Deism,  Arianism,  Hopkinsianism,  Socinianism,  Univer- 
salism,  Lordly  Episcopacy,  and  Papal  Despotism — terms  of  frequent 
discussion  in  their  assemblies  and  of  prolonged  development  in  their 
publications.  We  have  examined  the  records  of  the  churches  at 
Middletown  (Mapletown),  Westerlo  (Sprakers),  and  Canajoharie, 
where  Rev.  J.  C.  Toll  was  pastor  for  ten  years  or  more  and  find  them 
almost  wholly  devoted  to  discipline  and  trouble  in  the  congregation. 
The  Union  Classis  (Montgomery  Co.)  was  so  small  that  sessions 
were  only  held  once  in  two  or  three  years.  There  were  congregations 
at  Owasco,  Ovid,  Danube  (Indian  Castle),  and  Mount  Morris  (Liv- 
ingston Co.),  N.  Y.,  in  addition  to  the  above.  While  churches  were 
not  always  built  there  was  preaching  also  at  Tribes  Hill,  Amsterdam, 
Glen,  Osquako,  Mayfield,  and  Johnstown.  In  1830  the  secession  came 
to  its  climax  in  strength  and  later  joined  the  Christian  Reformed 
church.  There  is  a  church  at  Glen,  N.  Y.,  where  services  are  held 
monthly  and  an  occasional  service  is  still  conducted  at  Johnstown, 
N.  Y. 


163 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 


S  historical  jl?ote0  1 

on  rt)e  fl@ot)atoft  Pailep 


The  Iroquois 

In  Van  Ortelius  "Universal  Geography"  (published  in  1570)  is 
to  be  found  a  map  of  New  France  which  comprised  all  that  was  then 
known  of  North  America.  The  land  was  divided  into  nine  provinces 
or  districts,  and  what  is  now  Northern  New  York,  including  the 
Valley  of  the  Mohawk  was  called  "Avacal."  On  the  map  of  the  New 
Netherlands  (1616)  the  country  lying  on  both  sides  of  Lake  Cham- 
plain  was  called  Ir-o-coi-sia,  the  hereditary  land  of  the  Iroquois. 
This  vast  region  as  is  well  known  is  almost  entirely  surrounded  by 
water,  on  the  north  the  St.  Lawrence,  on  the  east  the  Hudson,  on 
the  south  the  Mohawk  and  on  the  west  Oneida  Lake  and  Oswego 
river.  The  Indian  paddled  his  canoe  around  it  excepting  two  short 
carrying  places,  one  at  Fort  Edward  to  Wood  Creek  s^^- 
and  the  other  at  Fort  Stanwix  to  the  other  Wood  Creek  that  empties 
into  Oneida  Lake.  When  the  white  man  first  explored  this  region, 
early  in  the  seventeenth  century,  Northern  New  York  was  a  part  of 
the  territory  and  hunting  grounds  of  the  great  Indian  Confederacy, 
called  by  the  French,  the  "Iroquois,"  by  the  English,  the  "Five 
Nations,"  and  by  themselves  the  "Ho-de-no-sau-nee,"  the  "People  of 
the  Long  House,"  or  the  "People  of  many  fires."  Another  name  the 
Iroquois  applied  to  themselves  was  the  "On-gue-hon-we,"  that  is,  "the 
men  surpassing  others" — "the  real  men."  The  rest  of  the  Amerind 
were  practically  without  knowledge  or  genius  ,and  possessed  nothing 
of  ability,  or  influence,  or  appeal,  such  as  characterized  the  Indians 
of  this  League.  In  1715  the  Confederacy  adopted  into  their  league 
the  Tuscaroras  who  had  lost  a  thousand  of  their  tribe  thro  wars  in 
North  and  South  Carolina.  Thereafter  they  were  known  in  England 
as  "The  League  of  the  Six  Nations." 

The  country  of  the  Iroquois,  called  by  them,  "Ho-de-no-sau- 
nee-ga,"  extended  from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie,  from  the  St. 
Lawrence  to  the  valleys  of  the  Delaware,  the  Susquehanna  and  the 
Alleghany,  the  whole  of  Central  and  Northern,  and  large  parts  of 
Southern  and  Western  New  York.  The  territory  of  Northern  New 
York  belonged  principally  to  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas,  the  Ononda- 
gas  owning  a  narrow  strip  along  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Ontario. 
The  New  York  league  of  the  Amerind,  as  their  name  signified,  were 
of  a  superior  type  of  red  men.  They  matched  the  European  in 
diplomacy,  while  in  knowledge  of  human  nature  and  sagacity,  they 
were  superior.  Man  to  man  the  Iroquois  matched  the  white  man. 
In  a  certain  sense  civilized,  yet  at  heart  barbarous,  cruel,  savage, 
rapacious,  treacherous.  The  Indian  had  no  peer  in  oration.  The 
conviction  of  his  free  birth  made  him  a  proud  man,  and  everywhere 

These  Historical  Notes  are  added  because  they  illumine  the  storfcf of  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  as  well  indicate  the  part  played  by  the  Dutch  Church  in 
those  stirring  days  of  Settlement  and  Revolution.  So  long  as  the  Mohawk 
flows   the   Iroquois,    the   Palatines,    and   this  Valley   will   never   be   forgotten. 

164 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

his  ability  was  recognized.  Here  in  the  wilderness  of  what  has  be- 
come the  Empire  State  the  Iroquois  built  up  the  strongest  con- 
federacy that  existed  in  America  north  of  the  Aztec  monarchy  in 
Mexico.  It  was  an  ideal  condition  of  Aboriginal  life  that  the  white 
man  found  when  he  came  over  the  seas  to  dwell  in  this  western 
land.  Up  to  the  time  of  Sullivan's  expedition  (1779)  which  was  the 
direct  resultant  of  the  Cherry  Valley  and  Wyoming  massacres  in 
1778,  the  Iroquois  had  ruled  their  vast  unknown  territory,  undisputed- 
ly,  for  five  centuries  They  held  the  gateway  that  opened  into  the 
great  west,  and  this  made  them  arbiters  between  the  great  nations 
of  the  Old  world  who  in  that  day  were  fighting  for  supremacy  in  the 
New. 

Among  all  the  Amerind  of  the  New  World  there  were  none  so 
politic  and  intelligent,  none  so  fierce  and  brave,  none  with  so  many 
germs  of  heroic  virtues  mingled  with  their  savage  vices — as  these 
people  of  the  Long  House.  All  other  nations  feared  them.  They 
overrun  the  country  of  the  Hurons  in  1650,  in  1651  utterly  destroyed 
the  Neutral  Nation,  in  1652  exterminated  the  Eries,  and  in  1672  made 
the  Andastes  a  slave  nation.  As  far  west  as  the  Mississippi  and  as 
far  south  as  the  great  gulf  was  their  war-cry  heard.  The  tribes  along 
the  Hudson  and  the  nations  in  New  England  paid  tribute  to  them. 
They  were  the  Conquerors  of  the  New  World,  the  "Romans  of  the 
West,"  of  whom  Father  Ragueneau  wrote  in  1650,  "my  pen  has  no 
ink  black  enough  to  describe  the  fury  of  the  Iroquois."  They  built 
their  castles  (villages)  on  the  banks  of  the  streams,  lived  in  long 
narrow  houses  and  raised  vegetables  and  tobacco.  For  more  than 
two  hundred  miles  along  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Mohawk  stretched 
their  "long  house."  The  Mohawks  (Ga-ne-a-ga-o-no,  i.  e.  "People 
Possessors  of  Flint")  guarded  the  eastern  door  of  this  "long  house" 
while  the  Senecas  (Nun-da-wa-o-no,  i.  e.  "Great  Hill  People")  kept 
watch  at  the  west.  Between  these  doors  of  their  country  dwelt  the 
Oneidas  (O-na-yote-ka-o-no,  i.  e.  "Granite  People"),  the  Ononodagas 
(O-nun-do-ga-o-no,  i.  e.  "People  on  the  Hills"),  the  Cayugas  (Gwe- 
u-gweh-no-no,  i.  e.  "People  at  the  Mucky  Land")  and  the  Tuscaroras 
(Dus-ga-o-weh-o-no,  i.  e.  "Shirt-Wearing  People").  Of  their  system 
of  government,  their  festivals  and  religious  beliefs,  and  their  social 
life  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  speak. 

Arent  Van  Corlaer  (1638-1667),  and  Peter  Schuyler  afterwards 
were  on  the  friendliest  terms  with  these  Aboriginies.  Indeed  the 
earliest  history  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  of  America 
is  replete  with  the  splendid  service  record  of  the  ministers  in  the  old 
churches  at  Manhattan,  Fort  Orange,  Schenectady,  and  elsewhere, 
who  ministered  unto  the  Indians,  visited  them  in  their  forest  homes, 
and  welcomed  them  to  the  privileges  of  the  parsonage  and  the  worship 
of  the  church.  After  1744  and  for  thirty  years  Sir  William  Johnson 
wielded  a  great  influence  over  the  Iroquois.  In  the  paragraph  de- 
voted to  the  education  and  christianizing  of  the  Indians  there  conies 
out  in  striking  illustration  the  marked  attitude  of  the  Indians  thro 
all  the  century  and  more  before  the  Revolution  between  the  Dutch 
settlers  and  the  French,  or  even  between  the  Dutch  and  the  English 
settlers.  The  three  castles  of  the  Mohawks  were  all  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river,  and  in  1693,  March  8,  were  captured  by  a  French- 
Indian  band  of  six  hundred.  As  early  as  1665  De  Curcelles  with  1,300 
made   an   expedition  against  the   Mohawks  and   burned   five   of  their 

165 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

palisaded  villages.  In  1669  La  Salle  took  possession  of  Lakes  Erie 
and  Ontario  and  built  Fort  Niagara  (destroyed  in  1689).  In  1673 
other  Frenchmen  erected  Fort  Frontenac  at  what  is  now  Kingston, 
Ont.  The  French  sought  to  win  the  Indian  over,  first  by  Jesuitism, 
and  later  by  force  of  arms.  With  the  English  it  was  different.  They 
sought  the  aid  of  the  Indian  to  help  the  crown  put  down  the  re- 
bellion, to  match  the  plodding  settlers  of  the  new  world  with  the 
wonted  savagery  of  the  forest.  All  the  while  the  colonists  wrought 
with  the  Indians  to  remain  neutral,  well  knowing  what  would  happen 
both  to  the  Indian  and  the  colonist  if  they  were  brot  into  the  conflict. 
Just  before  the  Revolution,  on  his  visit  to  London,  Brant  entered 
into  an  agreement  with  Lord  George  Germaine  who  was  Lord 
North's  cabinet  member  who  had  charge  of  the  war  in  America, 
whereby  the  Indians  were  to  receive  in  lieu  of  their  loyalty  to  the 
crown,  and  as  an  exchange  for  their  savage  service,  immediate  re- 
wards together  with  future  care,  no  matter  which  side  won.  It  was 
also  stipulated  that  for  every  prisoner  taken  they  were  to  receive 
eight  dollars,  but  the  scalps  of  the  prisoners  would  also  be  honored 
at  this  price.  Is  it  any  wonder  that  for  generations  it  was  not  thot 
to  be  a  crime  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mohawk  or  Schoharie  to  kill  an 
Indian.  Under  the  floor  of  the  old  church  at  German  Flatts,  whose 
erection  was  begun  about  1740,  the  settlers  buried  their  dead  that  they 
might  save  their  bodies  from  mutilation  by  the  savage.  England 
broke  every  promise  it  made  to  the  Indian,  vacated  the  treaty  made 
with  them  in  1683,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  utterly  forsook  them. 
The  Iroquois  paid  dearly  for  their  allegiance  to  the  Butlers  and  the 
Brants,  to  the  Johnsons  and  the  Tories,  and  to  England.  Capt.  Dal- 
ton,  Supt.  Indian  Affairs  of  the  Government,  himself  a  prisoner  for 
several  years  among  the  Indians,  under  date  of  August  5,  1783, 
estimates  the  number  of  Indians  engaged  by  the  British  during  the 
Revolution  as  a  few  short  of  13,000.  The  most  of  these  were  Uchip- 
weys  (3.000),  Sues  (1,300),  Creeks  (700),  Choctaws  (600),  Senecas 
(600),  Cherokees  (500),  Kackopoes  (500),  Delawares  (500),  Sokkie 
(450),  Plankishaws  (400),  Chickasaws  (400),  Ononodagas  (300),  Shaw- 
anaws  (300),  Mohawks  (300),  Ottaways  (300),  Puyons  (350),  and  2,500 
from  the  other  eleven  tribes. 


Indian  Border  Wars— 1 662-1 7  J  3 

In  1614  a  Dutch  trading  post  was  built  at  Fort  Orange  (Albany). 
The  Five  Nations  held  all  the  land  north  and  west  of  this  point  to  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  Lakes.  They  scourged  and  terrified  their 
neighbors,  and  from  1615  to  the  close  of  the  French  war  in  1763,  they 
kept  up  an  intermittent  warfare  with  the  Canadian  French.  At  the 
same  time  they  were  at  peace  with  the  Dutch  and  English,  but  always 
distrusted  by  both  because  of  the  Indian's  fickle  nature.  He  depended 
on  the  white  man  for  his  powder,  and  rum  and  camp  duffle.  Hence 
arose  the  necessity  for  protecting  the  settlements  that  were  always 
apprehensive  of  impending  danger.  Among  the  settlements  thus 
fortified  were  Claas  Gravens  Hoek  (Cranesville),  Post  Jackson  (Am- 
sterdam), Caughnawaga,  Canajoharie,  Palatine,  and  German  Flatts. 
During  the  years  of  1688  to  1760,  when  the  French  power  ceased  to 
create    alarm    in    America,    the    New   York    Province    was    more    than 


166 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

half  the  time  in  a  state  of  war  or  of  imminent  danger.  Never  but 
once  (1690)  did  any  formidable  body  of  the  French  ever  cross  the 
Mohawk,  but  skulking  bodies  of  their  Indian  Allies  made  constant 
reprisals  from  the  settlers.  The  expedition  of  M.  De  Courcelles 
against  the  Mohawks  December  29,  1665,  is  referred  to  elsewhere. 
In  1669  another  battle  was  fought  on  the  western  edge  of  the  town. 
The  River  Indians  (Mahikanders)  attacked  the  stockade  village  of 
the  Mohawks  at  Caughnawaga.  After  repulsing  them  the  Mohawks 
followed  and  gave  battle  to  their  foe  on  Towereoune  Hill,  near 
Hoffmans.  During  the  last  quarter  of  the  seventeenth  century  Eng- 
land and  France  were  at  peace  with  each  other,  but  their  provinces 
in  America  were  at  the  same  time  at  the  point  of  war  with  each  other. 
In  December,  1688,  King  James,  failing  to  make  England  a  Papal 
nation,  abdicated  the  throne  and  joined  Louis,  his  royal  ally,  in 
France.  In  America  Governor  Andros  was  imprisoned  and  Leisler 
headed  a  popular  anti-papal  government.  At  Montreal  in  August, 
1669,  the  Five  Nations  sacked  the  city  and  held  it  until  October. 
A  French  attack  on  the  Mohawk  and  Hudson  settlements  was  looked 
for  by  all.  The  blow  fell  first  upon  Schenectady,  February  9,  1690. 
In  April  following  the  French  Indians  attacked  Canastagione  (Nis- 
kayuna),  killing  some  ten  persons.  In  1693  the  French  attacked  and 
took  the  first  three  Mohawk  castles  and  burned  them.  In  1695  there 
were  many  conflicts  between  the  Five  Nations  and  the  French.  In 
July,  1696,  the  French  attacked  and  burned  the  castle  of  the  Oneidas. 
The  Onondagas,  too  weak  to  fight  the  French,  burned  their  own 
castles  and  retreated.  Schenectady  was  greatly  alarmed  when  a  party 
of  French  Indians  on  September  17th,  1696,  killed  some  settlers.  The 
anticipated  raid  of  the  winter  of  1696-1697  did  not  occur  but  in  the 
spring  of  1697  small  bands  of  Indians  harassed  the  settlements  along 
the  Mohawk.  On  September  20,  1697,  terms  of  peace  were  signed 
(Peace  of  Ryswick)  between  England  and  France.  But  the  Canadian 
French  remained  openly  imimical  to  the  Five  Nations,  and  preserved 
their  army  intact,  while  the  fortifications  and  soldiery  in  the  valley 
were  neglected.  In  1709  Governor  Lovelace  received  orders  from 
England  to  prepare  for  an  attack  upon  Canada  and  Nova  Scotia.  A 
Naval  Squadron  and  five  regiments  were  to  be  sent  over,  with  whom 
1,500  of  the  New  England  Militia,  the  Five  Nations  and  the  River 
Indians  were  to  join  forces.  Like  the  1691  attempt,  the  whole  thing 
fell  through.  England  sent  her  force  to  Portugal.  During  the 
English-French  war  (1701-1713)  the  neutral  Five  Nations  became  cor- 
rupted, and  lost  much  of  their  former  spirit  of  loyalty  to  the  English. 
In  1771  another  attempt  was  made  to  conquer  Canada,  which  also 
ended  in  failure.  These  abortive  attempts  had  the  effect  of  increas- 
ing the  marauding  spirit  of  the  Indians  in  the  Mohawk  Valley.  From 
1712  until  the  "Old  French  War"  (1744)  there  was  peace  between 
England  and  France  and  comparative  peace  in  the  New  York 
province,   especially   in   the    Mohawk   Valley. 

Missions  Among  the  MohaTvI(  Valley  Indians 

Rev.  Johannes  Megapolensis,  the  first  Reformed  Dutch  pastor  at 
Rensselaerswyck  (Albany)  from  1642  to  1649  was  the  first  Protestant 
Missionary   to   the    Indians   in   America,   antedating   by   several   years 

167 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

the  work  of  John  Eliot  in  New  England.  Even  the  Jesuit  missionaries 
who  had  been  in  the  Mohawk  country,  but  for  a  short  time  before 
his  coming,  and  whom  Megapolensis  and  Van  Curler  rescued,  were 
captives  in  the  country.  Megapolensis  was  born  in  Holland  in  1601. 
He  came  of  a  Romanist  family,  but  early  in  life  espoused  the  cause  of 
Protestantism.  His  coming  to  America  in  1643  was  purely  a  religious 
impulse  on  his  part,  tho  the  Patroon,  Kilian  Van  Rensselaer,  who  was 
behind  the  movement  financially,  and  who  had  established  Rensse- 
laerswyck  in  1637,  doubtless,  saw  a  good  deal  of  profit  commercially. 
Megapolensis'  ministry  in  America  included  forty  years,  half  of  which 
was  spent  in  the  New  Amsterdam  church.  He  was  a  man  of  splendid 
scholarship,  energetic  character,  and  devoted  piety.  He  saw  the  in- 
fancy of  the  Dutch  Province,  watched  its  growth,  and  witnessed  its 
surrender.  Indeed  he  got  into  no  little  difficulty  when  he  advised 
Stuyvesant  to  surrender  to  the  English  in  1664,  when  he  saw  that  there 
was  no  defense  they  could  make  and  to  hold  out  inevitably  meant  a 
great  loss  of  life — and  of  property.  Megapolensis'  father  was  a 
minister  at  Egmont  on  the  sea,  and,  later  at  Koedyck  and  Pancras 
in  North  Holland.  His  youngest  son,  Samuel,  also  became  a  minister 
of  the  Dutch  church,  and  with  his  father,  went  out  to  meet  the  fleet 
that  were  menacing  the  city,  and  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to 
prepare  the  terms  of  surrender  and  saw  "to  it  that  the  rights  of  the 
Dutch  church  were  well  guarded,  and  that  the  separation  of  church 
and  state  was  fully  established.  Megapolensis  learned  the  heavy 
language  of  the  Mohawks  and  wrote  an  interesting  story  of  the  Mo- 
hawks and  their  country  which  was  published  in  Holland.  The 
domine  freely  mingled  with  the  Indians,  received  them  into  his 
church  as  members,  lived  with  them  in  their  tepees,  and  kept  his  own 
Dutch  manse  always  open  for  their  welcome.  And  this  was  true  of 
all  who  succeeded  him  in  the  old  Dutch  church  at  Albany,  and  of  the 
ministers  in  the  old  Dutch  church  at  Schenectady. 

Megapolensis  had  left  Albany  in  1649  and  spent  twenty  years 
later  in  New  York  but  his  work  for  the  Indians  at  Albany  was  con- 
tinued by  his  successors,  Rev.  Gideon  Schaats,  who  spent  forty  years 
in  the  Dutch  church  at  Fort  Orange,  frequently  supplying  Schenec- 
tady. During  his  pastorate  in  Fort  Orange,  Gov.  Andros  compelled 
him  to  receive  Van  Rensselaer,  an  Episcopalion,  as  a  colleague,  but  the 
friction  ensuing  was  ended  after  two  years  by  the  death  of  the  latter. 
Following  him  Godfreidus  Dellius  gave  sixteen  years  to  definite 
Indian  mission  work.  Gov.  Leisler  and  Dellius  were  inimical  to  each 
other.  Immediately  on  Leisler's  illegal  execution  (1691)  Gov.  Slough- 
ter  sent  Dellius  as  a  missionary  among  the  Indians,  and,  like  the  Dutch 
predecessors  (and  successors)  he  had  great  influence  over  them.  Both 
Father  Milet  and  Father  Dablon,  Jesuit  missionaries,  wrote  Dellius, 
proferring  thanks  not  only,  but  pecuniary  gifts  for  his  kindness  to- 
ward them.  When  he  went  with  Peter  Schuyler  to  Canada  in  April, 
1698,  to  confer  with  Frontenac,  he  took  nineteen  French  prisoners 
with  him.  Some  writers  severely  censure  Dellius  and  others  of  his 
day  because  of  the  large  areas  of  land  they  secured  from  the  Indians, 
some  of  the  tracts  being  fifty  and  sixty  miles  long  and  several  miles 
wide.  But  the  crown  was  behind  these  transactions,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  to  prevent  Jesuit  occupation.  A  super-abundance  of  letters, 
documents,  etc.,  to  be  found  in  the  State  archives,  and  in  the  history 


168 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

of  the  church  of  the  day  show  that  Dellius  was  right  and  that  the 
giddy  headed  governor  (Bellomont)  was  all  wrong. 

Rev.  John  Lydius  spent  ten  years  (1700-1709)  with  the  Mohawks 
and  brot  many  of  them  to  a  high  state  of  civilization.  In  later  years 
his  son,  John  Henry  Lydius,  a  counsellor  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  also 
for  some  years  a  governor  at  Fort  Edward,  gave  the  best  years  of  his 
life  (he  died  near  London  in  1791,  aged  ninety-eight)  to  the  cause  of 
the  Indian.  Another  great  worker  among  the  Indians  was  Rev. 
Bernardus  Freeman  of  the  Dutch  church  at  Schenectady,  who  was  a 
missionary  by  Gov.  Bellomont's  appointment  to  the  Iroquois,  and  who 
obtained  a  better  understanding  of  the  dialects  of  the  Indians  than 
even  Dellius.  His  Book  of  Common  Prayer  translated  into  the  Mo- 
hawk language  for  the  use  of  the  Indians  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York 
(printed  in  1715)  is  one  of  the  rarest  books  in  the  class  of  American 
linguistics.  This  was  but  one  of  many  such  publications  that  he  put 
into  the  Mohawk  tongue.  The  list  of  the  men  who  befriended  the 
Indians  of  the  Mohawk  valley  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution  would 
include  every  pastor,  especially,  in  the  Albany  and  Schenectady 
churches,  at  first  the  Dutch,  and  later,  also,  the  Episcopal.  References 
to  the  work  of  Ehle  and  Van  Driesen  will  be  found  in  the  Stone 
Arabia  church  history. 

Among  the  first  Jesuit  priests  who  were  found  among  the  Indians 
were  Jogues,  and  Bressani,  Poncet,  and  Goupel.  This  work  goes 
back  to  1644  when  Arent  Van  Curler  (cf  Note)  urged  by  Megapolensis, 
made  a  trip  into  the  Mohawk  company  to  rescue  certain  Jesuits  who 
were  about  to  be  martyred.  Van  Curler  failed  to  rescue  these  priests 
but  he  obtained  the  promise  of  the  Indians  that  they  would  not  be 
killed.  Later  Jogues  escaped,  was  secreted  for  a  while  by  the 
Dominie,  then  shipped  to  France.  Returning  to  the  country  in  1646 
he  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  his  books  and  clothes  being  brot  to 
Megapolensis  at  Albany.  Father  Le  Moyne,  after  peace  had  been  ne- 
gotiated between  the  Mohawks  and  the  French  in  1653,  began  a  work 
in  central  New  York  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  a  string 
of  Jesuit  missions  from  Fort  Orange  to  Lake  Erie.  But  so  soon  as 
the  gifts  from  Canada  began  to  fail  the  Indian  piety  began  to  wane. 
Le  Moyne  (April,  1658)  tried  to  bring  Megapolensis  back  into  the 
papal  fold,  to  which  effort  the  domine  wrote  in  the  Latin  a  treatise 
on  Popery,  which  aside  from  its  polemic  nature  is  remarkable  as  an 
exhibition  of  the  learning  and  ability  of  this  famous  old  divine.  Le 
Moyne  urged  him  to  weigh  his  arguments  in  the  scales  of  the  sanctu- 
ary, and  the  minister  said  he  had,  but  could  not  fish  out  anything  to 
establish  the  claims  of  Rome.  To  the  list  of  popes  sent  by  the  Jesuit, 
the  dominie  asks  why  Joanna  was  left  out,  who  was  well  attested  by 
papal  historians,  and  calls  him  to  account  for  daring  to  put  Christ 
and  Peter  at  the  head  as  if  they  stood  for  some  of  the  doctrines  of  the 
church  of  Rome.  In  reference  to  the  councils  Megapolensis  thinks 
Le  Moyne  must  be  laboring  under  some  hallucination  if  he  thinks 
God's  promises  are  limited  to  the  papal  church,  and  are  not  meant  for 
the  Holy  Catholic  church.  He  refers  to  Rome  as  the  Babylonian 
harlot  that  had  become  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  martrys.  And, 
further,  Le  Moyne  could  not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  popes  and 
councils  had  frequently  contradicted  each  other.  Le  Moyne  named 
Judas  as  the  arch  heretic  and  let  Calvin  bring  up  the  rear.  Mega- 
polensis, however,  showed  how  Judas  rejected  Christ's  doctrines  and 

169 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

became  his  enemy,  while  Calvin  vindicated  the  Christ,  His  Word,  and 
His  spirtual  body  and  brot  back  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  merits.  Mega- 
polensis  declares  that  Le  Moyne  would  have  made  out  a  better  list 
of  heretics  if  he  had  omitted  some  he  had  named  and  inserted  various 
orders  of  monks,  which  he  names,  and  some  of  the  orders  of  nuns. 
Finally  he  takes  issue  with  Le  Moyne  baptising  Indians  on  their 
ability  to  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  sometimes  even  when  they 
were  half  dead — a  profanation,  for  no  such  ceremony  could  cleanse  the 
soul.  The  Jesuit  missionaries  ceased  to  be  devotees  of  Rome  and 
became  agents  of  the  King  of  France.  The  work  of  the  Jesuits  con- 
tinued for  more  than  forty  years  when  it  was  suddenly  halted  by 
Gov.  Dongan,  himself  a  Romanist  (1684),  in  the  interests  of  British 
trade.  Gov.  Dongan  asked  the  Indians  not  to  receive  the  French 
Jesuit  priests,  promising  them  Protestant  missionaries  instead.  Both 
the  Crown  and  Gov.  Dongan  decided  it  would  be  best  to  keep  the 
priests  of  France' out  of  the  country,  and  in  1700  an  act  was  passed 
forbidding  the  Jesuits  or  any  Popish  priests  to  work  with  the  Indians. 
This  spirit  was  in  keeping  with  the  original  laws  of  Georgia,  for- 
bidding Rominists  to  colonize,  and  with  that  of  New  England  pre- 
scribing the  death  penalty  if  caught  there,  and  with  that  of  Virgina, 
which  refused  Lord  Baltimore  and  his  colonists  to  land  there  owing 
to  their  being  Romanists. 

Six  years  later,  Kryn,  "the  great  Mohawk,"  who  had  conquered 
the  Mohegans,  having  become  a  Romanist,  led  the  band  of  "praying 
Indians"  to  attack  Schenectady  in  1690,  inciting  them  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  fury  just  before  the  massacre.  Louis  XIV  of  France  and  his 
morganatic  wife,  Madame  de  Maintenon  (the  widow  of  the  crippled 
poet,  Scarron)  were  told,  later,  by  Monseignat  of  the  extermination 
of  the  heretics  at  Schenectady,  and  the  story  went  the  rounds  of  the 
salons  of  Versailles  and  Paris  and  London.  It  was  this  same  Louis 
XIV  that  drove  the  Palatines  from  their  homes  at  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  It  was  the  French  Jesuit  priests,  who  "con- 
verted" certain  Indians  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  and  took  them  away 
into  Canada,  who  twice  descended  upon  Schenectady  to  massacre  the 
Dutch  Protestant  settlers  there.  The  descendants  of  these  Indians, 
the  St.  Francis  tribe,  are  living  to  this  day  at  Caughnawaga,  formerly 
called  La  Prarie,  and  now  called  Sault  Saint  Louis.  The  church  of 
England  began  a  work  among  the  Indians  along  about  1700,  and  in 
the  following  years  we  find  the  names  of  Revs.  Smith,  Thomas 
Barclay,  William  Andrews  (first  rector  at  St.  George's  in  Schenec- 
tady), who  kept  the  work  going  until  1719.  After  six  years'  work 
among  the  Mohawks  and  Oneidas,  begun  in  1712,  Rev.  Andrews  writes 
his  English  society  that  the  Indians  were  heathen  and  incapable  of 
being  anything  else.  But  Megapolensis,  and  Eliot,  and  Kirkland  had 
other  opinions  of  the  Red  men.  Queene  Anne  was  influenced  to  aid 
the  Indian  cause  thro  the  visit  (1710)  to  the  court  by  Gen.  Peter 
Schuyler,  formerly  mayor  at  Albany,  who  had  with  him  four  Indian 
chiefs,   among   these   the   husband   of  Joseph    Brant's   mother. 


"*e 


Rev.    Mr'Tiarclay   was   at    Fort   Hunter   1708-17 10<wrrKg*|fsm*erfl 
wrxr1t--a-t-''Sc"rfeTrefeta4y_Jii--4J^  St.    George's   church    wasMiot 

built  and  completed  until  1769  ("Smith's  Journal,"  1769).  J^r-^tTJt 
Rev.  John  Miller  visted  the  Mohawks,  while  in  1733  it  was  reported 
that  there  were  but  few  unbaptised  among  them.  Rev.  John  Ogilvie 
(rector  at  St.  Peter's  church,  Albany  in  1748)  came  in  1750,  his  work 

170 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 


being  especially  among  the  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  and  Tuscaroras.  He 
served  up  to  the  time  of  the  Revolution.  Rev.  John  Stuart  came  to 
the  Fort  Hunter  Indian  mission  in  1770,  following  Rev.  Henry  Munro. 
He  also  served  Johnstown  occasionally.  Fort  Hunter  was  an  im- 
portant military  post  in  early  times,  having  been  erected  by  Capt. 
John  Scott  in  1710.  The  post  was  surrounded  by  walls  twelve  feet 
high  and  enclosed  about  a  hundred  and  fifty  square  feet.  Rev. 
Thoroughgood  Moor  was  the  missionary  during  1704-1707.  Rev. 
Thomas  Barclay  was  stationed  here  during  1708-1712,  and,  later,  his 
son,  Rev.  Henry  Barclay,  was  stationed  here  173^-174(5""  He  then  went 
to  Trinity  church  in  New  York  where  he  died  in  1761.  A  chapel 
built  within  the  walls,  endowed  by  Queen  Anne,  was  called  "Queen 
Anne's  Chapel."  During  the  Revolution,  the  fort  having  become  di- 
lapidated, the  chapel  was  fortified  with  heavy  palisades  and  block 
houses.  The  chapel  was  taken  down  in  18:3(L,to  make  room  for  the 
Erie  canal.  The  stone  rectory,  aixo  erected^  w^ffmathe  walls  is  still 
standing.  In  1860  it  was  sold  by  the  Trinity  Episcopal  church  of  New 
York  city  for  $1,500.  The  Indians  had  given  Rev.  Barclay  three 
hundred  acres  of  land  for  the  support  of  the  missionary,  who,  in  re- 
turn, sold  it  to  the  English  society  that  was  supporting  the  work  here. 
When  Rev.  Mr.  Stuart  of  the  mission,  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  all 
the  clergy  of  the  Province,  refused  to  give  up  his  allegiance  to  the 
King,  Gen.  Herkimer  promised  Brant  at  the  Unadilla  interview  that 
he  would  be  given  safe  conduct  into  Canada.  After  the  Revolution 
Stuart  preached  for  some  years  at  Grand  River,  Can.  On  the  going 
of  Stuart  in  1775  the  Indian  work  was  given  up.  Aided 
by  Brant,  Rev.  Stuart  wrote  the  Gospel  of  Mark  and  a  part  of  Acts,  as 
well  as  a  short  history  of  the  Bible,  in  the  Mohawk  tongue.  While 
the  title  of  the  rectory  and  glebe  was  with  Trinity  Episcopal  church 
in  New  York  city,  yet,  when  these  properties  were  sold  ($3,000)  both 
the  Johnstown  Episcopal  church,  which  Sir  William  Johnson  caused 
to  be  built  in  1764,  and  the  St.  Ann's  Episcopal  church  of  Amsterdam 
incorporated  as  the  Episcopal  Church  of  Florida  in  1S30  and  re- 
incorporated as  St.  Ann's  Episcopal  Church  of  Port  Jackson  in  1835, 
were  made  beneficiaries.  The  bell  of  the  old  mission  went  to  the 
Johnstown  academy.  The  Moravians  began  mission  work  among  the 
Onondagas  in  1740,  Rev.  David  Zeisberger  being  at  the  head  of  the 
movement.  He  was  the  author  of  many  works  or  translations  in  the 
Indian  tongue.  The  mission,  however,  was  of  short  duration.  Other 
names  in  the  work  were  Rev.  Ashley,.  Crosby,  Peter  Avery,  Henry 
Avery — all  before   Kirkland  began  his  work. 

The  first  permanent  Protestant 
mission  among  the  Oneidas  was  at 
Oneida  Castle,  begun  by  Rev.  Samuel 
Kirkland  in  1766,  whose  final  efforts 
(he  became  both  blind  and  crippled 
in  his  latter  years)  ensued  in  what 
aft  .ward;  became  Hamilton  College 
which  was  projected  and  founded  by 
Kirkland  for  the  special  benefit  of  the 
Oneida  Indians.  In  1764  Kirkland, 
guided  by  a  young  Mohawk,  came  to 
William  Johnson,  who  sent  him  for- 
Rev.  Samuel   Kirkland  ward    on    January    17,    1765,    escorted 


171 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

by  two  friendly  Senecas,  on  a  journey  of  two  hundred  miles,  thro  a 
wilderness  to  a  people  whose  language  he  did  not  know.  He  spent 
eighteen  months  with  the  Senecas,  and  then,  in  1766,  he  entered  upon 
his  life  work  among  the  Oneidas.  In  1780  he  married  Jerusha  Bing- 
ham, niece  of  Rev.  Dr.  Wheelock,  who  founded  Dartmouth.  Both 
gave  literally  their  lives  to  these  Oneidas.  On  July  1,  1794,  Baron 
Steuben,  with  Stephen  Van  Rensselear,  Col.  North,  Maj.  Williams, 
and  Chief  Skenandoah — all  aided  Kirkland,  the  patriot  missionary, 
to  lay  the  corner  stone  of  Hamilton  Academy  (named  for  Alexander 
Hamilton)  which,  later,  grew  into  Hamilton  College.  Both  the  Kirk- 
lands,  and  Skenandoah,  are  buried  in  Hamilton  College  cemetery.  On 
Skenandoah's  monument  (1706-1816)  is  his  own  written  epitaph, — "I 
am  an  aged  hemlock;  the  winds  of  a  hundred  winters  have  whistled 
through  my  branches;  I  am  dead  at  the  top.  The  generation  to  which 
I  belonged  have  run  away,  and  left  me."  Other  names  deserving 
mention  are  Rev.  Elihu  Spencer  (1748)  who  later  became  President  of 
Dickinson  College;  Rev.  Mr.  Hawley  (1753)  and  Rev.  Mrs.  Ash- 
ley. Modern  work  was  done  among  the  Oneidas  by  Rev.  Daniel 
Barnes   (1829),  and   Rev.   Daniel   Fancher   (1841). 

Palatines  of  the  Rhine 


The  Palatines  have  played 
so  important  a  part  in  the 
settlement  and  development 
of  the  Mohawk  Valley,  to 
which  they  came  about  1720, 
from  the  Hudson  River  set- 
tlements and  the  Schoharie 
Valley,  and  because  they  al- 
most wholly  made  up  the 
Committee  of  Safety  of  Try- 
on  County  and  the  forces 
that  won  the  Battle  of 
Oriskany,  we  have  deemed 
it  of  importance  to  speak  of 
them  in  this  work.  The  term 
"Palatine"  (in  use  in  America  over  three  centuries)  in  English  and 
early  colonial  history  meant  a  "lord"  or  "proprietor."  In  the  times 
of  the  Merovingian  Kings,  the  first  Frankish  dynasty  in  Gaul  (fifth 
to  eighth  centuries)  was  an  officer  called  "comespaltii,"  who  was  the 
master  of  the  royal  household.  The  king  also  gave  his  like  authority 
to  provincial  rulers,  to  act  for  him  in  their  province,  and  who  were 
called  Count  Palatine,  and  the  province  Palatinate.  Among  the 
provinces  into  which  Germany  was  divided  in  the  J  6th  century,  one 
of  the  most  extensive,  fertile  and  prosperous  was  known  as  the  lower 
Palatine,  or  the  Palatine  of  the  Rhine.  Its  chief  city,  and  the  seaport 
of  its  government,  was  Heidelberg,  where  the  Catechism,  one  of  the 
three  doctrinal  standards  of  the  Dutch  church,  was  published  350 
years  ago.  Manheim  was  the  next  city  of  importance.  Into  this 
Palatine  country  Protestantism  did  not  enter  to  any  large  extent  until 
late  in  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  and  when  the  controversy  was 
fully   developed.      Being  on   the   border,   the   country   formed   an   easy 


172 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

asylum  for  a  great  number  of  Calvanistic  refugees  from  Holland  and 
France,  with  the  natural  result  that  the  Rhine  country  became  a  com- 
mon battlefield  on  which  the  hostile  armies  of  Rome  and  Protes- 
tantism were  wont  to  meet  for  the  settlement  of  religious  and  terri- 
torial disputes.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  many  of  the  Palatines  of 
the  Rhine,  tenacious  of  personal  liberty,  as  their  Teutonic  forefathers 
were,  and  emulating  their  Puritan  predecessors,  who  a  century  before 
fled  the  violence  of  persecution  in  the  old  land,  began  to  dream  of 
liberty  and  freedom  to  worship  God  in  another  land.  Toward  the 
close  of  the  15th  century  the  Germans  of  the  Rhine  country,  in  large 
numbers,  began  to  settle  in  London,  and  soon  became  an  actual 
burden  to  the  English  government.  In  less  than  three  months  10,000 
of  them  had  come.  During  1708  and  1709  they  had  cost  England 
nearly   £136,000. 

To  relieve  herself  of  the  cost  of  supporting  these  refugees,  Eng- 
land planned  to  send  at  first  3,000  of  them  to  her  American  colonies, 
but  with  this  double  ulterior  motive,  namely — that  she  might  curb 
the  threatened  French-Canadian  invasion  of  the  province  of  New  York 
with  a  human  barrier  at  the  outposts  of  civilization,  and  secondly  that 
she  might  develop  a  great  tar  industr)'  for  British  naval  and  com- 
mercial purposes.  And  so  it  came  to  pass  that  the  Palatines  who  left 
their  vineyards  in  the  dear  old  Rhineland,  so  often  laid  waste  by  cruel 
war,  were  destined  for  a  still  more  savage  one  in  the  American  wilder- 
ness. But  "man  proposes  and  God  disposes."  The  German  Palatines 
became  an  unconquerable  human  barrier  to  the  progress  of  British 
colonization  in  America,  while  the  "tar  bondage,"  conducted  by  that 
modern  Pharaoh,  Governor  Hunter,  scatterd  these  German  white 
slaves  throughout  the  Schoharie  and  Mohawk  valleys,  and  wrought 
out  of  them  the  advance  guard  of  the  white  man's  supremacy  in  this 
northern  wilderness.  We  have  been  profoundly  surprised  in  our 
researches  for  this  address,  to  discover  that  many  of  the  best  works 
on  American  history  hardly  mention  this  early  German  immigration. 
More  surprised  yet  have  we  been  in  discussing  this  story  of  the 
Palatines  with  their  descendants  here  in  this  valley,  to  find  how  little 
they  know  of  the  early  struggles  and  privations  and  hardships  their 
fathers  and  mothers  had  to  suffer,  or  of  the  patriotic  services  they 
rendered  during  the  first  birth  of  the  republic.  And  among  the 
historians  who  do  speak  of  them  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
their  character — Mrs.  Lamb  placing  them  on  a  par  with  the  Coolies 
of  the  Pacific  coast,  while  Macauley  (1829)  says  that  their  genius 
and  industry  was  such  as  to  enrich  any  land  fortunate  enough  to 
afford  them  an  asylum.  In  Mrs.  Grant's  "An  American  Lady"  (pub- 
lished in  London  in  1808),  which  is  the  autobiography  of  an  English 
woman  living  for  some  years  during  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  at  Albany,  and  frequently  meeting  the  Palatines  in  their  homes, 
we  find  this  comment — "The  subdued  and  contented  spirit,  the  simple 
and  primitive  manners,  the  frugal  and  industrial  habits  of  these 
genuine  sufferers  for  conscience  sake,  made  them  an  acquisition  to 
any  society  which  received  them,  and  a  most  suitable  leaven  among 
the  inhabitants  of  this  province." 

The  Palatines  were  Of  the  same  importance  to  New  York  as  the 
Puritans  and  Pilgrims  were  to  New  England.  They  chose  to  become 
the  farthest  outpost  of  white  men  in  the  country  of  the  fiercest 
aborigines,  the   Iroquois  confederation.     They  braved  all  the  dangers 

173 


i 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

of  the  Wilderness  and  settled  in  the  midst  of  the  Mohawks,  the  most 
war-like  of  all  the  Indian  tribes.  The  Palatines,  moreover,  were  the 
founders  in  this  country  of  a  free  press.  John  Peter  Zenger  of  P44ku 
derpirta,  a  Palatine,  was  jailed  because  he  dared  to  criticise  Governor 
Ofosby  the  King's  representative,  in  his  paper^'Thye.^Veekly  Journal." 
He  was  defended  by  j=an*ss  JvlojianalSif^ Hamilfli)ii.^<~His  acquittal  was 
one  of  the  greatest  victories  for  law  and  freedom  ever  won  on  this 
continent.  Prof.  Fiske,  the  eminent  historian,  says  "that  the  most 
obstinately  fought  and  bloodiest  battle  of  the  Revolution  was  that  of 
Oriskany,"  the  most  sanguinary  battle  of  the  Revolution,  wherein  200 
Palatines  lost  their  lives.  The  presence  of  so  many  former  neighbors 
on  both  sides  made  it  a  fratricidal  contest.  You  will  recall  that 
"Honikal"  Herkimer,  who  was  the  general  in  command,  was  of  German 
descent,  and  his  army  was  made  up  almost  wholly  of  Palatines 
(cf  Note  on  "Tryon  Co.  Com.  Safety").  Despite  the  stupid  idiocy 
of  his  officers  (cf  Note  on  "Battle  of  Oriskany"),  the  wounded  Herki- 
mer fought  this  battle  to  a  finish  and  won  the  victory  over  St.  Leger 
and  the  savages,  which  meant  so  much  to  the  cause  of  liberty  in  this 
western  land.  Bennington  prevented  the  arrival  of  Burgoyne's  sup- 
plies and  Oriskany  his  expected  reinforcements.  This  decisive  battle 
of  the  Revolution  resulted  in  the  turning  back  of  St.  Leger  to  Canada 
and  in  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  in  the  union  of  the 
northern  colonies  and  in  the  final  evacuation  of  the  Hudson  and 
Mohawk  valleys  by  the  British.  The  battles  of  Oriskany  and  Stone 
Arabia  were  as  great  contests  as  Concord  and  Bunker  Hill.  At  the 
close  of  the  struggle  there  were  upwards  of  four  hundred  widows 
in  five  districts  of  Tryon  county. 

The  very  first  known  Palatines  that  came  to  America  (they 
numbered  fifty-five)  were  conducted  hither  by  Rev.  Joshua  Kocher- 
thal,  a  Lutheran  minister,  born  in  1669,  who  came  to  America  in  1708 
and  for  two  or  three  years  was  a  pastor  at  West  Camp.  The 
Quassaic  (Newburgh)  Colony  came  over  with  Kocherthal.  After  be- 
ing denizened  in  England  by  royal  order,  August  25,  1708,  they  were 
later  sent  to  America  with  Lord  Lovelace.  The  work  of  Brown 
puts  the  date  of  their  coming  a  few  months  before  coming  to  New 
York.  Kocherthal  visited  England  in  1709  in  the  interest  of  the 
colony.  Kocherthal  died  in  1719  and  is  buried  at  West  Camp.  Kocher- 
thal's  first  wife  died  in  1713,  December  6.  His  second  wife  who  sur- 
vived him  married  Rev.  W.  C.  Berkenmeyer,  a  Lutheran  missionary, 
who  was  the  first  pastor  of  the  Palatine  Lutheran  Stone  church 
(1733-1743).  The  first  Germans  from  the  Rhine  Palatine  who  came 
in  any  considerable  numbers  to  New  York,  arrived  June  14,  1710,  and 
numbered  three  thousand,  the  largest  of  any  single  immigration  to 
America  up  to  that  date.  This  date,  June  14,  was  religiously  ob- 
served for  many  years  by  the  early  settlers,  and  might  well  be 
annually  kept  now  in  unison  with  Flag  Day  which  falls  on  the  same 
day.  Before  the  Palatines  left  England  they  had  heard  of  the  wonder- 
ful valley  of  the  "Schorie"  (an  Indian  term  for  drift  wood),  Schoharie, 
and  longed  for  this  "promised  land."  But  the  statesmen  of  Queen 
Anne's  time  thought  that  the  Palatines  ought  to  repay  some  of  their 
"keep"  in  England  as  well  their  transportation,  so  they  conceived  a 
plan  whereby  these  Germans  were  to  get  out  timbers  for  the  royal 
navy  and  pitch  and  turpentine  and  resin,  needed  naval  stores.  Great 
Britian  had  furnished  $40,000  and  out  of  his  own  fortune  Gov.  William 

174 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

Burnet  furnished  $140,000.  They  were  settled  at  Livingston  Manor 
on  the  Hudson,  and  set  to  work.  It  proved  to  be  a  modern  effort  of 
making  "bricks  without  straw,"  and  after  years  of  vain  pleadings  to 
be  allowed  to  go  to  the  promised  land  in  the  Schoharie  valley,  they 
finally  rose  up,  rebelling  against  "Pharaoh"  Hunter  and  left  the  tar- 
less  pine  trees  for  the  rich,  alluvial  soil  of  the  Schoharie,  tho  not 
a  few  went  into  Pennsylvania. 

About  the  time  of  the  German  exodus  from  the  Hudson  settle- 
ment not  a  few  of  the  Palatine  families  found  their  way  into  the 
valley  of  the  Mohawk,  at  least  one-third  of  all  the  Germans  in  the 
Schoharie  valley  coming  into  this  community  between  1722  and  1725. 
To  these  were  added iHU££  a  goodly  number  who  had  just  entered  the 
country,  among  tnemT^cnolare  Herkimer  of  Oriskany  fame,  who  came 
to  America  in  1722.  England  now  began  to  grant  great  tracts  of  land, 
among  them  being  the  Governor  William  Burnet's  Patent,  land 
bought  of  the  Mohawks  in  1722 — consisting  of  all  the  country  on  both 
sides  of  the  river  from  Little  Falls  to  Frankfort,  100  acres  being 
given  to  each  of  the  70  persons  named  in  the  patent  settling  there, 
subject  only  to  quit  rent  to  be  paid  forever  to  the  Crown.  German 
Flatts  (Fort  Herkimer)  was  once  called  "Burnetsfield."  On  October 
19,  1^23,  another  patent,  similar  to  this  one  of  Burnet's,  officially  re- 
corded in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  was  given  at  Stone 
Arabia,  consisting  of  12,000  acres,  and  costing  $750  in  Indian  goods 
(all  but  a  small  portion  being  in  the  town  of  Palatine),  was  disposed 
among  twenty-seven  Palatine  families  who  entered  upon  the  land  in 
the  spring  of  1723).  Simms'  "Frontiersmen"  gives  the  names  of  the 
men).  The  Mohawks  just  previous  to  this  had  given  deeds  of  lands 
to  certain  settlers  who  began  to  locate  near  the  Palatine  Stone 
church.  For  twenty-five  miles  the  Mohawk  is  a  Palatine  or  German 
river,  as  witness  the  towns — Palatine,  Oppenheim,  Frankfort,  Man- 
heim.  Newkirk,  etc.  This  district  had  the  fewest  Tories  because  the 
German  settlers,  while  they  were  of  inestimable  value  to  England  in 
the  war  with  France,  were  the  most  ardent  patriots,  and  toryism  did 
not  flourish  in  such  an  environment.  At  Stone  Arabia,  in  the  tavern 
of  Adam  Loucks,  who  lies  buried  in  the  cemetery  adjoining,  was 
held  the  first  meeting  of  the  "Tryon  County  Committee  of  Safety," 
August  27th,  1774,  whose  deliberations  and  activities  counted  so  much 
for  the  independence  of  the  colonies.  New  York  led  all  the  colonies 
in  their  bold  stroke  for  freedom,  while  Tryon  county  (Montgomery) 
led  all  New  York  in  the  spirit  of  independence  displayed  by  its 
citizens.  Like  the  Star  of  the  East,  which  led  the  wise  men  to  the 
Khan  of  Bethlehem,  where  the  World's  Redeemer  was  born,  the 
vision  of  liberty  was  filling  all  the  sky  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  by  its  light  the  mightiest  men  that  ever  peopled  the  earth  were 
led  to  the  cradle  of  freedom  in  this  western  land.  There  were  the 
Holland  Dutch,  the  English  Puritans  (who  also  came  from  Holland), 
the  Scottish  Covenanters,  the  Pilgrim  Fathers,  and  last,  but  not  least, 
the  Germans  of  the  Palatine.  These  were  the  five  tribes  of  God's 
Israel,  who  laid  the  foundation  of  Christian  civilization  in  America, 
who  were  the  founders  of  our  institutions,  the  builders  of  the  republic, 
and  all  alike  caught  their  inspiration  and  won  their  victories  through 
their  genius  for  religion  and  their  unwavering  faith  in  the  Almighty 
God. 


17: 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 
Committee  of  Safety  of  Tryon  County 

The  occasion  for  the  appointment  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  of 
Tryon  County  was  dictated  by  the  stirring  events  transpiring  in  those 
days  just  prior  to  the  Revolutionary  War.  Among  the  colonies  in 
the  north  there  was  no  section  where  the  Royal  cause  was  so  deeply 
intrenched  or  in  which  the  loyalists  were  so  numerous  or  of  greater 
influence  than  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mohawk.  The  only  exception  to 
this  was  in  the  Palatine  section  where  Toryism  was  not  healthy.  Not 
only  over  the  Iroquois  but  over  the  western  Red  men  beyond,  Sir 
William  Johnson  had  absolute  power,  and  was  regarded  by  the  Indians 
as  the  supreme  arbiter  in  all  their  councils,  and  with  whom  also  the 
white  settlers  knew  they  must  reckon.  Sir  William  Johnson  died, 
suddenly  and  suspiciously,  on  June  24,  1774,  at  his  baronial  mansion 
in  Johnstown,  and  the  estate  fell  to  his  son,  already  a  baronet,  Sir 
John  (child  of  his  German  housekeeper),  of  morose  temperament  and 
exceedingly  irascible.  Associated  with  him  as  the  new  Superintendent 
of  the  Indians  was  Col.  Guy  Johnson,  an  Irish  nephew  of  Sir  William, 
who  had  married  his  cousin  Mary,  one  of  John  Johnson's  sisters. 
He  was  an  irresponsible  character  of  uncontrollable  temper,  but  with  a 
great  mental  void.  His  secretary  was  Walter  Butler,  the  fiend 
incarnate  of  all  the  Tories.  At  this  time  most  of  the  settlers  in  the 
valley  as  far  as  Caughnawaga  were  the  Dutchmen  who  had  come 
from  Manhattan  and  Fort  Orange,  while  west  almost  as  far  as  Utica, 
were  the  Palatines,  who  had  begun  to  settle  in  the  valley  about  1720. 
Neither  of  these  elements  welcomed  the  change  from  the  sagacious 
and  politic  Sir  William,  with  his  generous  treatment  of  all,  to  the 
overbearing,  aristocratic,  and  domineering  attitude  of  Sir  John  and 
Col.  Guy  Johnson.  Matters  would  have  come  to  a  crisis  sooner  than 
they  did,  had  it  not  been  for  the  influence  of  Mistress  Molly  and  her 
big  brother,  Joseph  Brant,  who  cautioned  the  Johnsons  and  indirectly 
ruled  the  Iroquois.  Tryon  county  was  ready  to  resent  the  tyrannical 
spirit  of  these  men,  and  when  word  at  last  had  come  from  Lexington 
and  Concord,  the  first  Independents  in  the  North  began  to  formulate 
their  plans.  After  Sir  John  had  removed  Kirkland  from  his  mission- 
ary work  among  the  Indians,  he  went  with  the  Butlers  and  Brants 
to  a  great  Indian  conference  at  Montreal,  and  came  back  to  organize 
his  Romanist  Scotch  Highlanders  and  fortify  Johnson  Hall.  In  his 
absence  in  Canada  the  patriots,  or  Whigs,  as  they  were  called,  or- 
ganized the  Committee  of  Safety,  deposed  Sheriff  White,  the  Tory, 
and  put  John  Frey  in  his  place.  When,  later,  White  arrested  Jacob 
Fonda  the  committee  went  to  the  Johnstown  jail  and  liberated  the 
prisoner  amid  an  exchange  of  shots,  the  first  of  the  Revolutionary 
War  fired  west  of  the  Hudson.  Later,  White  was  sent  a  prisoner 
to  Albany. 

The  late  J.  Howard  Hanson  of  Amsterdam  and  S.  L.  Frey  of  Pala- 
tine Bridge,  thro  the  generosity  of  the  late  Stephen  Sanford  of  Am- 
sterdam, in  1905,  reissued  in  printed  form  the  correspondence  and  acts 
of  the  Tryon  County  Committee  of  Safety,  originally  written  by 
Christopher  P.  Yates  (b.  1750-d.  1815),  the  best  educated  member  of 
said  committee,  Montgomery's  first  county  clerk,  assemblyman,  mem- 
ber of  Provincial  Congress,  Major  in  N.  Y.  State  Militia,  and  Regent 
of  N.  Y.  State.  William  W.  Campbell,  who  wrote  "The  Annals  of 
Tryon   County,"  at  a  celebration  at   Cherry  Valley,  July  4,   1840,   said 

176 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

that  he  had  found  the  original  correspondence  many  years  before  that 
date  in  the  garret  of  Maj.  John  Frey,  and  had  them  removed  and 
deposited  with  the  New  York  State  Historical  Society.  These  original 
Minutes  have  for  many  years  been  in  the  possession  of  S.  L.  Frey 
of  Palatine  Bridge.  Among  the  members  of  the  committe  from  the 
Palatine  District  were,  George  Eker,  Jr.,  Anthony  V.  Frechten,  Har- 
mon V.  Slyke,  John  Frey,  Christopher  P.  Yates,  Peter  Waggoner, 
Isaac  Paris,  Andrew  Finck,  Jr.,  Daniel  McDougall,  Andrew  Reber, 
and  John  Klock.  From  the  Canajoharie  district  there  were,  David 
Cox,  John  Rickert,  Michel  Heckimer,  William  Seeber,  John  Moore, 
and  Ebenezer  Cox.  From  the  German  Flatts  district  there  were  Wil- 
liam Petry,  Edward  Wall,  Jacob  Weaver,  Marcus  Petry,  Duncan 
McDougall,  and  John  Petry.  From  Kingsland  there  were  George 
Wents,  John  Frank,  Augustinus  Hess,  Michel  Ittig,  George  Her- 
chheimer,  Frederick  Ahrendorf,  and  Frederick  Fox.  Adam  Loucks 
was  a  Palatine  at  whose  Stone  Arabia  Inn  the  committee  was  formed. 
Isaac  Paris  had  a  palisaded  house  (Fort  Paris)  on  what  is  now  the 
Cramps  farm.  His  son  Peter  was  killed  at  Oriskany  and  himself  a 
prisoner,  tortured  to  death.  His  youngest  son  married  a  sister  of 
Washington  Irving.  John  Frey  was  a  grandson  of  the  first  settler 
in  the  Palatine  section  who  bought  land  on  the  Mohawk  in  1689. 
John  Frey's  second  wife,  Mrs.  Gertrude  Wormuth,  was  a  niece  of 
Gen.  Herkimer.  Frey  served  as  Major  under  Herkimer  at  Oriskany, 
was  an  assemblyman  and  N.  Y.  State  senator.  Andrew  Fink,  whose 
grandfather  was  one  of  the  Stone  Arabia  patentees,  was  an  assembly- 
man and,  later,  state  senator.  He  was  a  captain  in  the  N.  Y.  militia, 
and  was  in  the  Battle  of  Saratoga.  Peter  Waggoner  was  a  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  in  the  Tryon  county  militia  at  Oriskany,  with  three  sons. 
Webster  Wagner,  whose  old  home  and  workshop  was  at  Ephratah, 
where  the  parlor  and  sleeping  cars  were  planned,  was  a  descendant 
of  Peter  Waggoner.  Nicholas  Herkimer,  the  genera',  son  of  John 
Jost,  had  twelve  brothers  and  sisters  (all  married  but  one).  Five 
Herkimers  were  in  Col.  Bellinger's  regiment.  Next  to  the  Johnsons, 
the  Herkimers  were  the  most  influential  family  in  the  Mohawk  valley. 
Gen.  Herkimer  was  a  man  of  many  parts,  fairly  well  educated,  a  Bible 
student,  a  man  of  sterling  character,  and  a  high  born  patriot,  who 
gave  his  all  including  his  life  to  the  cause  of  liberty.  Ebenezer  Cox 
and  William  Seeber  were  killed  at  Oriskany.  Dr.  William  Petry  was 
a  surgeon  in  Col.  Harper's  regiment  at  Oriskany,  and  attended  Gen. 
Herkimer  after  the  battle.  There  were  fifty  Fondas,  twelve  Shoe- 
makers, and  seventy-five  men  by  the  name  of  Vedder  or  Veeder,  who 
saw  service  in  the  Revolution.  These  Veeders  and  Vedders  were  de- 
scendants of  both  Lucas  Vetter  of  Germany  and  of  the  Holland 
Vedder  family.  Rudolph  Shoemaker  was  a  Captain  at  Oriskany  tho 
only  fifteen  years  old.  Adam  Bellinger,  a  lieutenant  in  Col.  Klock's 
regiment,  a  grandson  of  Peter  Bellinger,  married  Delia  Herkimer. 
Major  John  Frey's  brother,  Bernard,  was  in  the  English  army.  Col. 
Hendrick  Frey,  the  Tory,  married  a  sister  of  Gen.  Herkimer,  while 
his  patriot  brother,  Major  John  Frey,  married  the  general's  niece. 
Christopher  P.  Yates'  wife  was  the  youngest  sister  of  Major  John 
Frey.  Among  other  patriots,  German  and  Dutch,  among  whose  fami- 
lies occurred  many  marriages,  may  be  mentioned  these — Feeter, 
Helmer,    Nellis,     Fox,    Gros,     Eisenlord,     Nestell,     Roof,    Dievendorf, 


177 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

Visscher  (Fisher),  Quackenboss,  Van  Epps,  Wemple,  Hanson,  Groat, 
et.    al. 

Great  credit  is  due  the  men  of  this  Committee  for  the  way  in 
which  they  conducted  the  patriotic  cause  in  the  valley,  and  their  work 
and  the  influence  of  their  lives  counted  immensely  in  the  final  in- 
dependence. Early  in  1776  Sir  John  Johnson  surrendered  himself, 
his  Hall  and  all  his  belongings  to  Gen.  Schuyler,  who  gave  him  his 
parole  under  the  care  of  Col.  Herkimer.  When  this  parole  was  brok- 
en by  the  Tory  baronet,  Col.  Dayton  was  dispatched  to  arrest  Sir. 
John,  but  loyalist  friends  apprised  him  of  the  danger,  enabling  him 
to  escape  to  Montreal.  His  estate,  the  largest  ever  held  by  one  man, 
with  one  exception,  was  sold  at  auction,  while  Lady  Polly  Watts 
Johnson  was  removed  to  Albany  as  a  hostage  for  the  peaceful  con- 
duct of  her  recreant  husband.  Sir  John  became  the  Colonel 
of  the  Royal  Greens,  and  Brant  and  Butler  were  made  Captains 
in  the  English  army.  A  captain's  commission  was  on  Butler's 
person  at  his  death.  Swearing  bloody  vengeance  against  their  former 
neighbors  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  this  triad  of  fiends  incarnate, 
under  the  approval  of  the  English  and  with  the  aid  of  the  savage, 
wreaked  their  venomous  hatred  on  the  people  of  the  valley,  sparing 
neither  age  nor  sex.  The  ancient  British  theory  still  held  that  all 
land  acquired  by  settlement  or  conquest  remained  the  property  of  the 
King,  and  the  occupant  must  share  its  profits  with  the  crown.  More- 
over the  commerce  and  industry  of  the  colonists  must  not  compete 
with  that  of  England.  Trade  restriction  and  taxation  without  re- 
presentation were  the  rocks  of  offense  on  which  the  home  govern- 
ment foundered  in  its  dealings  with  the  colonists.  In  a  country  but 
sparsely  settled,  separated  from  the  Hudson  river  by  a  powerful 
Indian  tribe,  and  surrounded  by  a  large  and  influential  body  of  well 
organized  loyalists — the  Tryon  County  Committee  of  Safety  mani- 
fested a  courage  and  determination  unparalleled  even  in  that  day  of 
self-sacrifice  and  heroic  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom.  Almost 
two  years  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  signed  (July 
4,  1776),  the  Independents  of  Tryon  County  (August  27,  1774)  calmly 
but  bravely  asserted  their  rights  and  bound  themselves  to  abide  by 
the  regulations  of  the  First  Continental  Congress.  Unless  we  accept 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  formulated  at  Mendon,  Mass.,  March 
1,  1773,  the  Tryon  County  Committee  of  Safety  were  the  first  or- 
ganized body  of  Independents  in  the  colonies. 

The  war  lords  of  that  day  met  in  London  and  planned  the  battles 
for  the  extermination  of  the  rebellious  colonists.  Burgoyne  was  to 
fall  on  northern  New  York  and  St.  Leger  was  to  scourge  the  valley 
of  the  Mohawk,  the  victorious  commanders  meeting  in  Albany,  and 
go  down  the  Hudson  valley  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  Arnold's  treachery. 
Burgoyne  was  a  successful  leader,  St.  Leger  had  already  proven 
his  worth  while  Brant  the  savage  leader,  hired  by  England 
under  the  promise  of  eight  dollars  per  scalp  turned  in,  was  the 
ablest  strategist  of  all  the  Iroquois.  But  what  irony  of  fate,  that  the 
Palatines,  whom  England  had  generously  passaged  over  into  this  new 
land  should  be  the  battering  ram  that  would  tuurn  aside  St.  Leger 
in  the  bloodiest  battle  of  the  Revolution,  prevent  his  coalition  with 
Burgoyne,  and  thus  make  sure  the  land  of  freedom.  Some  day  the 
story  of  these  Palatines  will  be  written  in  such  fast  colors  that  this 
nation    of   ours   will    never   willingly   let   their    memory    die    out.        In 

178 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

February,  1788,  France  formed  its  alliance  with  the  colonies  on  the 
sole  condition  that  never  again  would  they  acknowledge  the  su- 
premacy of  Great  Britain.  In  1779  Spain  declared  war  against  Eng- 
land with  the  hope  of  obtaining  Gibralter.  In  1780  Russia  organized 
a  neutrality  league  of  the  northern  states  to  resist  England's  attempt 
to  search  the  ships  of  neutral  countries.  Holland  so  opposed  this 
attitude  of  the  British  that  in  1790  England  declared  war  against  Hol- 
land. With  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis,  October  21,  1781,  the  War  of 
the  Revolution  ended  with  the  colonies,  while  both  France  and  Spain 
won  in  their  struggle  with  England.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  constant 
emphasis  that  the  Revolution  was  fought  by  the  classes — that  the 
educated,  conservative,  elegant  and  well-to-do  were  practically  all  on 
the  British  side.  Notable  exceptions  were  Washington  and  Sullivan. 
In  the  case  of  the  latter  he  so  impoverished  himself,  and  Congress 
so  neglected  him,  that  when  he  died  the  sheriff  attached  his  corpse 
for  debt,  which  had  to  be  released  prior  to  burial.  Many  of  the  Dutch 
and  Palatines  could  not  write  their  names,  tho  they  had  ingenious 
"marks"  to  verify  the  signatures  made  by  others  for  them.  It  was 
these  ignorant,  oft-discouraged  and  broken  hearted  ones,  the  "rabble," 
who  bought  our  liberty  with  the  price  of  their  blood.  When  the 
Revolution  was  over  Parliament  made  terms  with  four  thousand 
Tories  who  were  conspicuous  in  their  alliance  with  England  and  dis- 
tributed among  them  sixteen  millions  of  dollars.  Thus  the  Britons 
gave  to  the  Tories  vastly  more  than  Congress  gave  to  the  ragged 
Continentals  who  had  won  the  country's  freedom. 

But  tho  Cornwallis  surrendered  and  a  Peace  Treaty  was  signed 
September  3,  1783,  England  still  controlled  New  York  city,  Charles- 
ton, and  Savannah.  The  War  meant  a  practical  separation  from  Eng- 
land but  Independence  did  not  really  and  fully  come  till  1815.  Eng- 
land broke  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  by  retaining  her  military  posts 
in  the  west  which  she  promised  to  give  up,  and  the  new  Treaty  of 
1795  she  ignored  by  instructing  her  navy  to  capture  American  ships 
trading  in  French  ports.  England  also  trickily  tried  to  use'  Napoleon 
as  a  pawn  whereby  she  might  forever  destroy  the  possibility  of  Ameri- 
can commerce.  In  the  south  Cornwallis,  forgetful  of  the  spirit  of 
Washington  shown  at  the  surrender,  burned  and  ravaged,  especially 
venting  his  spite  on  the  people  of  Presbyterian  faith,  whose  churches 
and  Bibles  he  burned.  The  Revolution  cost  $135,000,000  and  232.000 
men  were  engaged.  It  cost  England  thirteen  provinces,  four  islands, 
a  hundred  thousand  men,  and  $350,000,000.  In  1812  Congress  de- 
clared war  against  England,  protesting  its  claim  of  a  half  century 
that  it  owned  the  seas.  In  the  conflict,  which  did  not  open  auspicious- 
ly, the  United  States  overwhelmingly  defeated  England.  During  1812 
thro  1814  in  several  engagements,  near  and  within  Canada,  England 
again  resorted  to  the  infamous  use  of  the  savages  who  were  urged 
to  carry  on  their  atrocities.  This  war  cost  thirty  thousand  lives  and 
a  hundred  million  dollars. 

Border   Wars 

General  Sullivan's  Campaign  or  raid  into  the  Iroquois  country 
(1779),  which  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  their  villages,  was  the 
immediate    result    of    the    Wyoming    and    Cherry    Valley    massacres. 

179 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

Washington's  orders  to  Sullivan  were  strictly  carried  out — the  de- 
vastation of  the  Indian  settlements,  but  the  expedition  failed  in  its 
main  purpose  which  was  to  suppress  the  Indian  raids,  since  most  of 
the  injury  done  in  the  Mohawk  valley  was  subsequent  to  the  Sullivan 
campaign.  In  no  other  part  of  the  country  was  so  great  damage  in- 
flicted on  the  non-combatants.  In  Tryon  county  twelve  thousand 
farms  were  idle,  two  thirds  of  the  population  had  either  been  killed 
or  fled,  and  of  the  remaining  one-third  three  hundred  were  widows 
and  two  thousand  were  orphans.  The  Province  of  New  York  at  the 
time  of  the  Revolution  was  wholly  governed  by  Loyalists,  appointed 
thro  London.  But  not  in  any  less  measure  was  the  Mohawk  valley 
dominated  by  the  Johnsons.  Sir.  William's  loyalty  was  made  keen  thro 
generous  and  continuous  gifts  of  the  crown,  while  that  of  his  success- 
ors wrought  itself  out  in  satanic  savagery.  And  this  was  all  ably 
abetted  by  the  English  government.  Gen.  Burgoyne  (a  noted  play- 
wright in  England)  in  June,  1777,  in  his  Crown  Point  proclamation 
threatened  the  "outcast"  rebels  with  Indian  butchery  if  their  "frenzied 
hostility  continued"  and  believed  he  said,  that  "God  would  approve 
the  execution  of  such  vengeance."  Indeed  to  prevent  desertion  from 
his  English  ranks  he  announced  orders  to  each  regiment  that  he  had 
enjoined  the  savages  to  scalp  any  runaway  British  soldiers. 

Oriskany  can  hardly  be  classed  among  the  Border  Wars,  tho  it 
often  is.  We  may  more  reasonably  regard  it  as  one  of  the  causes,  if 
not  the  chief  cause,  leading  up  to  these  wars.  About  the  middle  of 
July  (1777)  St.  Leger  landed  at  Oswego  where  he  was  joined  by  the 
Johnsons,  and  Brants,  and  Butlers.  His  plan  was  to  devastate  the 
Mohawk,  join  Burgoyne  at  Albany,  to  which  place  Gen.  Clinton  was 
expected  to  come  after  subduing  the  Hudson  valley.  Burgoyne  had 
a  numerous  body  of  the  savages  with  him  when  he  started  out  from 
the  north  but  all  had  deserted  before  the  Saratoga  battle.  Barry  St. 
Leger  had  more  and  these  were  in  charge  of  Brant  and  Butler.  The 
Indians  were  promised  that  rum  would  be  as  plentiful  as  the  waters 
of  Lake  Ontario,  presents  were  bestowed  and  the  English  government 
offered  a  reward  for  prisoners  or  scalps  at  eight  dollars  each.  For 
years  England  sought  to  enlist  the  services  of  the  Iroquois  against 
the  colonists,  while  the  latter  urged  the  Indians  to  remain  neutral, 
well  knowing  the  true  type  of  their  aid.  In  July,  1775,  Sir  Frederick 
Haldemand  in  the  presence  of  Col.  Guy  Johnson,  the  Indian  agent  for 
England,  said  to  the  gathered  savages,  "now  is  the  time  for  you  to 
help  the  king  *  *  *  whatever  you  lose  the  King  will  make  up  to 
you  when  peace  returns."  And  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth  in  the  same 
month  wrote  Col.  Johnson  from  London  that  it  was  King  George's 
pleasure  "that  he  lose  no  time  in  taking  such  steps  as  may  induce  the 
Indians  to  take  up  the  hatchet  against  his  majesty's  rebellious  sub- 
jects in  America."  Before  Oriskany  St.  Leger  offered  the  Indians 
twenty  dollars  for  every  American  scalp. 

Oriskany  ("Nettles")  is  a  tragic  story  of  haste,  insubordination, 
cowardice, — but  a  wondrous  story  also  of  more  than  human  bravery 
and  of  splendid  victory,  tho  dearly  bot.  The  Palatine  Germans,  the 
English  white  slaves,  became  a  human  barrier  against  the  rising  tides 
of  feudal  aristocracy  in  this  new  soil  of  America.  The  plan  of  Herki- 
mer, the  man  of  the  hour  in  this  contingency,  was  to  crush  the  forces 
of  St.  Leger  with  a  front  and  rear  attack,  the  latter  to  be  made  by 
Col.  Gansevoort  of  Fort  Stanwix.     But  his  impetuous  officers,  big  with 

180 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

bluster  and  ignorant  of  conditions  nagged  their  general,  taunted  him 
with  cowardice,  and  against  his  better  judgment  he  moved  his  forces 
on  to  what  became  the  bloodiest  battle  of  the  Revolution,  if  not  the 
pivotal  struggle  of  the  war.  Hearing  of  the  coming  of  Herkimer  thro 
Sir  William  Johnson's  pale  faced  mistress  widow' — Molly  Brant  (who 
on  the  baronet's  death  was  sent  back  to  the  tribe  of  her  birth).  St. 
Leger  dispatched  Sir  John  Johnson  with  his  royal  Yorkers,  and  Capt. 
Walter  Butler  with  his  Rangers,  Col.  Claus  and  his  Canadian 
troops,  and  Lieut.  Bird  with  a  force  of  Regulars,  to  ambush  the  Tryon 
county  militia  if  possible.  For  five  hours  the  battle  raged,  three 
hundred  were  killed,  as  many  taken  prisoners.  Major  Stephen  Watts, 
Johnson's  brother-in-law  was  killed,  and  Col.  Paris  of  Stone  Arabia, 
taken  prisoner,  was  later  slowly  tortured  to  death.  John  Frey  was 
a  prisoner,  whose  brother,  a  Tory,  tried  hard  to  kill  him.  Jacob 
Gardinier  and  a  few  men  annihilated  a  whole  platoon  of  the  British, 
Gardinier  receiving  thirteen  wounds,  but  crawling  into  the  hollow 
trunk  of  an  old  tree,  and  sending  a  German  lad  out  on  the  field  for 
the  weapons  of  the  fallen,  he  kept  up  the  fight  till  exhausted.  He 
lived  to  a  good  old  age.  During  the  battle  Col.  Willett  led  a  sortie 
from  Fort  Stanwix,  and  captured  twenty-one  wagon  loads  of  the 
British  camp  duffle,  including  all  of  Johnson's  and  Leger's  papers, 
etc.  This  sortie  had  the  effect  of  ending  the  back  woods  fight,  and 
left  Herkimer,  propped  against  a  tree  directing  the  battle,  the  victor. 
Lieut.  Col.  Gansevoort  ran  the  captured  British  standards  aloft,  and 
^^gffiffi  them  he  placed  for  the  first  time  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  adopted 
by  congress  a  short  time  previously,  the  emblem  being  made  from  the 
white  of  a  shirt,  the  blue  of  a  soldier's  jacket,  and  the  red  from  the 
petticoat  of  one  of  the  women  in  the  garrison. /S-aJ$s:  ?*r<-^+--  CL^^. 3,l~)  7~) 

The  civilian  population  suffered  no  less  than  the  actual  com- 
batants. Fields  were  devastated,  homes  and  provisions  ruthlessly 
burned,  mothers  murdered  and  daughters  outraged  by  a  villainous, 
licentious  soldiery.  Led  captives  into  a  howling  wilderness  women 
had  their  babes  snatched  from  their  breasts  while  the  savages  scalped 
them  for  gold,  and  later  tomahawked  the  mothers.  In  other  parts 
of  the  great  colony  of  New  York  settlers  pursued  their  work  un- 
molested, while  here  in  the  valleys  of  the  Mohawk  and  Schoharie 
rapine  ran  riot  for  a  half  a  century.  The  major  blame  for  this 
treatment  of  the  colonists  of  these  valleys  must  rest  on  the  shoulders 
of  England,  whose  emissaries,  the  Johnsons,  and  Butlers,  and  Brants, 
out-Heroded  Herod  in  their  cruel  carnage,  while  most  of  the  other 
Tories  were  scarcely  less  savage  than  the  savages.  All  but  about 
half  of  the  Oneidas  of  the  entire  Iroquois  Confederacy  were  allied 
with  the  British  army  in  the  Revolution,  and  many  of  the  Indians 
were  later  used  along  the  Canadian  border  against  the  Americans 
in  the  War  of  1812.  Under  date  of  Albany,  Mar.  7,  1782,  Capt.  Gerrish  of 
the  New  England  Militia  writes  to  his  commander  of  the  spoil  taken 
in  an  expedition  into  the  Indian  country.  In  the  booty  were  eight 
packages  of  scalps  consigned  to  Col.  Haldiman,  the  British  Governor 
of  Canada,  accompanied  by  a  letter  written  from  Tioga  by  one  Capt. 
Jas.  Craufurd,  giving  the  detailed  history  of  these  scalps  which  were 
to  be  forwarded  to  England  for  the  Crown's  reward.  In  these  pack- 
ages were  the  scalps  of  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine  farmers,  two 
hundred  and  eleven  girls,  a  hundred  and  ninety-three  boys,  a  hun- 
dred  and   five   women,    forty-three    soldiers,   twenty-nine   infants,    one 

181 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

minister,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty-two  mixed.  Each  was  definitely- 
marked  by  Indian  signs  and  rings,  etc.,  to  denote  the  sex,  age,  occupa- 
tion, manner  of  death,  etc.  It  is  singular  that  after  the  Battles  of 
Oriskany  and  of  Saratoga  that  these  Border  Wars  should  have  oc- 
curred. New  York  Province  ought  to  have  settled  down  to  peace  and 
prosperity  and  industry.  The  main  issues  of  the  war  had  been  trans- 
ferred to  Virginia,  Georgia,  and  South  Carolina.  And  it  is  worth 
noting  that  most  of  the  province  did  settle  down  and  the  people  quiet- 
ly pursued  their  agricultural  and  other  work.  But  here  in  the  Mohawk 
and  Schoharie  valleys  rapine  and  bloodshed  ran  riot  for  several  years. 
The  sequel  of  it  in  part  may  be  traced  to  Oriskany  where  the  duped 
Indians  got  a  thirst  for  bloody  revenge  which  took  years  to  assuage. 
To  the  English  government  must  also  be  given  the  credit  for  setting 
in  motion  those  forces  which  ensued  in  such  satanic  savagery  toward 
the  settlers  in  the  new  world.  But  conspicuous  among  the  agencies 
that  wrought  a  diabolism  that  was  never  known  before  in  so-called 
Christian  lands,  are  the  lives  and  the  deeds  of  the  Johnsons,  and 
Brants,  and  Butlers. 

Battle  of  Stone  Arabia 

The  Battle  of  Stone  Arabia  occurred  October  19,  1780.  It  was 
a  fierce  conflict  between  a  large  part  of  the  forces  of  Sir  John  John- 
son's "Royal  Greens"  and  Indians,  and  a  detachment  from  the 
stockaded  garrison  known  as  Fort  Paris,  near  the  Stone  Arabia  cross 
roads.  Sir  John  with  his  hired  savages  had  appeared  in  the  late 
Spring  quite  suddenly  at  sunset  on  May  21  at  Johnson  Hall,  Johns- 
town, evidently  seeking  the  silver  plate,  papers,  etc.,  which  he  had 
left  behind  some  months  previously  in  his  hurried  flight  into  Canada 
when  Gen.  Schuyler  had  dispatched  Col.  Dayton  to  arrest  him  for 
having  broken  his  parole,  given  in  the  early  part  of  1776  when  he 
surrendered  to  Gen.  Schuyler.  On  the  following  morning  he  attacked 
Caughnawaga  and  Tribes  Hill,  500  Indians  and  Tories  being  in  his 
company.  All  Summer  long  the  settlements  were  harassed  and  de- 
vastated by  the  foe  whose  commanders,  or  leaders,  were  Sir  John 
Johnson,  Col.  Guy  Johnson,  the  Tory  Captain,  Walter  Butler,  Corn- 
planter  the  Seneca  chief,  Joseph  Brant  the  Mohawk,  and  others.  The 
force  totaled  about  2,000.  In  February  German  Flatts  was  attacked, 
and  in  March  Palatine  was  visited.  In  April  Harpersfield  was  burned, 
and  further  depredations  were  committed  in  Ulster  county.  Then 
came  Johnson  by  way  of  Lake  Champlain  to  Johnstown,  harassing  the 
north  side  while  Brant  and  Butler  were  busy  on  the  south  side  of  the 
river.  In  July  Brant  and  GOO  Indians  cut  off  intercourse  between  Fort 
Stanwix  and  German  Flatts.  On  August  2  Brant  attacked  Canajo- 
harie  with  450  Indians,  killing  fourteen  and  taking  half  a  hundred 
captives.  In  September  Brant  visited  the  Schoharie  valley  with  Sir 
John  Johnson  and  Cornplanter,  the  entire  force  numbering  1,500. 
They  attacked  the  Middleburgh  Fort,  but  were  unable  to  take  it.  On 
both  sides  of  the  Mohawk  they  ravaged  the  country.  The  home  of 
Jelles  Fonda  at  Palatine  worth  $65,000  was  burned.  Fonda  was 
absent  and  his  wife  made  her  way  to  Schenectady  on  foot,  twenty- 
six  miles. 

On  October  19,  1780,  Sir  John  sent  a  force  to  attack  Fort  Paris, 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

a  stockkaded  store  at  Stone  Arabia.  Because  of  the  ravages  of  the 
Indians  and  Tories  Gen.  Robt.  Van  Rensselear  was  dispatched  with 
companies  from  Claverack,  Albany,  and  Schenectady,  to  the  relief  of 
the  settlers.  Gov.  Clinton  was  with  the  expedition.  Capt  Robt. 
McKean,  having  joined  the  Van  Rensselaer  force,  urged  the  com- 
mander to  hasten  up  the  valley,  but  the  general  seemed  bound  to  de- 
lay his  march.  On  the  evening  before  the  battle  Van  Rensselaer's 
force,  with  two  hundred  Oneidas  encamped  on  a  hill  near  the  Stanton 
place  in  the  present  town  of  Florida,  less  than  fifteen  miles  of  John- 
son's camp  (Sprakers).  Van  Rensselaer  had  sent  word  to  Col.  John 
Brown  stationed  at  Fort  Paris  to  engage  the  enemy  at  the  front  and 
he  would  fall  on  their  rear.  In  the  Burgoyne  campaign  Col.  Brown 
had  liberated  a  hundred  American  soldiers  and  made  prisoners  of 
three  hundred  of  the  enemy.  Van  Rensselaer's  forces  (1,500)  twice 
that  of  the  enemy,  reached  Sprakers  just  after  Johnson's  forces  had 
crossed.  Col.  Brown,  relying  on  Van  Rensselaer's  word,  started  out 
to  engage  the  foe.  He  brot  along  the  message  sent  him  by  Van 
Rensselaer,  but  before  entering  the  battle  sent  it  back  to  the  fort.  This 
message  was  not  found  after  the  battle.  So  sure  was  he  of  the  rear 
attack  that  he  had  covered  two-thirds  of  the  distance  to  the  river 
before  he  met  the  enemy.  Van  Rensselaer  could  see  the  smoke  and 
hear  the  noise  of  the  battle,  yet  he  refused  to  cross.  McKean  (who 
had  challenged  Brant  to  fight  alone  or  with  an  equal  number  of  men, 
and  was  refused  by  the  Mohawk)  begged  Van  Rensselaer  to  let  him 
and  Lt.  Louis  the  Indian  commander  of  the  Oneidas  under  McKean 
to  cross,  but  they  were  refused. 

When,  however,  they  heard  of  Col.  Brown's  death,  and  knowing 
the  enemy  were  exhausted  by  their  long  march  and  fiendish  labors, 
Capt.  McKean  with  his  eighty  Oneidas  and  Lt.  Col.  Louis,  the  Oneida 
chief,  rushed  their  forces  in  pursuit  across  the  river,  only  to  be  re- 
called by  Van  Rensselaer,  who  ordered  a  halt  while  he  went  off  to 
Fort  Plain  to  have  dinner  with  Gov.  Clinton.  He  did  not  return  until 
four  in  the  afternoon  and  then  began  a  tedious  crossing  of  the  river 
by  means  of  wagons.  Col.  William  Harper  remonstrated  with  the 
general  and  Lt.  Louis  shook  his  sword  in  his  face  and  denounced  him 
as  a  Tory.  It  was  later  discovered  that  the  forces  of  Sir  John  were 
utterly  fatigued  and  were  expecting  to  surrender  to  the  fresh  troops 
of  Gen.  Van  Rensselaer,  whose  relationship  to  Sir  John  Johnson  was 
said  to  be  the  reason  for  the  cowardice  if  not  treachery  displayed. 
Col.  Brown  and  some  thirty  of  his  men  lost  their  lives.  Capt.  Cassel- 
man  urged  the  Colonel  to  keep  his  force  under  cover  as  the  Indians 
were,  but  Brown  was  impetuous  and  relied  on  the  rear  attack  and 
pushed  forward.  After  the  enemy  had  left  the  field  Joseph  and  Con- 
rad Spraker,  Warner  Dygert  and  William  Waffles  returned  to  the 
scene  and  found  Col.  Brown's  body  and  those  of  his  soldiers,  naked 
and  scalped.  They  were  buried  in  a  trench  beside  an  immense 
boulder  (now  suitably  marked)  behind  which  they  had  fought.  Later 
the  body  of  the  Colonel  was  reinterred  in  the  Reformed  church  burying 
ground,  and  on  October  19,  1836,  the  fifty-sixth  anniversary  of  the 
battle,  a  monument  was  erected  by  his  son  over  the  spot.  Rev.  Abram 
Van  Home  of  Caughnawaga  preached  the  sermon,  and  an  address  was 
given  by  Attorney  Garret  L.  Roof  of  Canajoharie.  In  October,  1915, 
the  Fort  Rensselaer  Chapter  D.  A.  R.  of  Canajoharie,  aided  by  some 
of     Col.     Brown's     descendants,     repaired     the     monument     and     en- 

183 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

circled  it  with  an  iron  fence.  Col  Brown  is  also  remem- 
bered as  the  brave  accuser  of  Benedict  Arnold,  against 
whom  he  had  repeatedly  made  charges,  both  to  the  commander  of  the 
American  army  as  well  as  to  Congress.  Three  years  before  the  West 
Point  affair  Brown  had  publicly  posted  fresh  charges  against  him, 
among  them  this — '"Money  is  this  man's  God,  and  to  get  it  he  would 
even  sacrifice  his  country."  After  the  battle  the  enemy  scattered,  de- 
vastating the  country  on  all  sides.  Van  Rensselaer  crossed  the  river 
at  Fort  Plain  and  overtook  the  enemy  on  the  north  side  above  St. 
Johnsville  near  Klock's  block  house.  Johnson  retreated  to  a  point 
of  land  jutting  out  into  the  river.  Col  Harper  and  Col.  Du  Boise 
urged  an  immediate  attack  but  Van  Rensselaer  refused  and  the  enemy 
moved  out  during  the  night  at  their  leisure.  Capt.  Duncan  of  John- 
son's forces,  after  the  war,  while  visiting  at  Schenectady,  said  that 
the  officers  under  Johnson  had  made  all  preparations  for  surrender, 
but  Gen.  Van  Rensselaer  gave  them  no  chance  to  capitulate.  Gen. 
Van  Rensselaer  was  court  martialed  in  March,  1781,  for  his  action 
but  was  acquitted  because  of  conflicting  testimony.  Washington 
wrote  the  Continental  Congress  that  this  raid  was  planned  by  the 
Johnsons  and  Brants  in  the  belief  that  Arnold  would  succeed  at  West 
Point,  of  whose  plans  the  enemy  probably  knew.  The  wonder  is  if 
either  Johnson  knew  at  the  time  that  Arnold  had  failed  or  if  Brown 
knew  of  the  treachery  of  his  former  commander  and  consistent 
enemy. 

Revolutionary  Residences  Now  in  the  Mohav>l?  Valley 

The  primitive  homes  in  the  Valley  of  the  Mohawk  were  the 
conventional  log  structures,  made  from  the  woods  of  the  virgin 
forests,  in  which  they  were  built  and  barren  of  the  comforts  or 
conveniences  of  the  modern  house.  Once  the  land  was  cleared  and 
a  bit  of  prosperity  had  come  thro  trade  the  settlers  began  to  build 
better  houses,  of  brick,  or  frame,  or  stone,  and  usually  patterned 
them  after  the  homeland  dwellings.  This  note  deals  very  briefly 
with  those  residences  built  before  or  during  the  Revolution  that  are 
still  extant. 

Mount  Johnson,  called  Fort  Johnson  after  it  was  stockaded  in 
17M,  was  built  by  William  Johnson  in  174:2.  In  its  day  it  was  a 
magnificent  building,  and  the  years  since  have  but  added  to  its  solid 
dignity  and  grandeur.  Constructed  of  stone,  with  broad  and  straight 
architectural  lines,  and  of  massive  material,  it  is  today  the  proud 
possession  of  1®!/  Montgomery  Historical  Society.  About  a  mile  east 
of  Fort  Johnson  Sir  William  built  in  1766  what  is  now  known  as 
Guy  Park  Mansion,  a  home  for  his  daughter,  Mary,  the  wife  of  his 
nephew,  Guy  Johnson.  The  land  attached  to  it,  a  mile  square,  was 
part  of  the  Hoofe  Patent,  granted  in  1727.  It  was  built  of  wood, 
originally,  but  rebuilt,  after  a  fire,  of  stone.  In  construction  it  is 
similar  to  the  baronial  hall  at  Fort  Johnson,  with  its  irregular  blocks 
of  limestone,  massive  walls  and  timbers,  deep  recessed  windows,  wide 
halls,  spacious  rooms  and  broad  starcases. 

The  General  Herkimer  home  in  the  town  of  Danube  was  built 
about  1700.  It  has  lately  been  purchased  by  New  York  State  and 
thoroly   renovated   and   in   the   repair   strict   accuracy   has   been   main- 

184 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

tained  of  the  original  dwelling.  It  is  characteristically  colonial. 
There  are  five  fireplaces  of  Holland  brick,  quaint  mahogany  stair 
rails  and  newel  posts,  floors  of  wide  boards  that  have  been  trod  for 
a  century  and  a  half,  deep  window-seats,  broad  piazzas,  stately  halls 
and  rooms,  spacious  attic  and  large  stone-floored  cellars. 

In  the  town  of  Palatine  is  the  stone  house  built  by  John  Peter 
Wagner,  to  whose  family  reference  is  made  in  the  Ephratah  church 
history.  Not  far  away  is  Fort  House,  built  about  the  same  time 
(1750)  by  Christian  House.  Fort  Ehle,  near  Fort  Plain,  was  built 
in  two  parts,  first  the  small  stone  wing  on  the  west,  then  the  larger 
addition  on  the  east.  The  west  end  was  built  by  Rev.  John  Jacob  -  . 
Ehle  and  for  many  years  was  the  mission  house.  The  other  part  was^*^ 
fett+k  which' became  the  home  of  Dr.  John  Cochran,  a  surgeon  general 
in  the  Revolutionary  War.  Much  of  the  fine  mahogany  furniture 
that  once  adorned  this  home  was  given  to  Dr.  Cochran  by  General 
Washington  who  had  used  it  in  his  Newburgh  headquarters.  On 
the  Sand  Flats  beyond  Fonda  is  the  old  Dockstader  house,  first 
built  as  an  inn.  It  is  on  the  Indian  trail  leading  to  Stone  Arabia,  and 
has  the  double  Dutch  doors  and  beamed  ceilings.  Dockstader  was  a 
Tory. 

Johnson  Hall  in  Johnstown  was  built  by  Sir  William  Johnson  in 
17G3  and  was  the  baronet's  home  for  the  last  decade  of  his  life.  Two 
stone  block  houses  were  built  nearby.  The  Hall  is  of  frame  con- 
struction, rooms  wainscotted  with  much  decoration,  mahogany  balus- 
trades, one  rail  of  which  is  scarified  by  hatchet-marks,  signs  of  safety 
in  that  day  to  the  Indian,  broad  halls  and  large  rooms,  and  great 
cellars  where,  originally,  the  horses  were  stabled.  The  building  is 
owned  by  New  York  State.  Another  old  house  in  Johnstown  is  the 
Drumm  home,  built  for  the  schoolmaster  by  Sir  William  Johnson.  It 
was  not,  however,  the  first  public  school  in  the  province,  as  some 
assert,  since  some  years  before  Rev.  Jonas  Michaelius  came  to  New 
Amsterdam  (1628),  a  school  system  was  established,  which  has  been 
continuous  thro  three  centuries  and  is  now  known  as  the  Collegiate 
Institute  of  New  York  City.  An  old  house  not  far  from  Johnstown 
is  called  the  "Black  Horse  Tavern."  For  a  great  many  years  the 
Yauney's  conducted  a  tavern  here.  It  is  referred  to  in  the  Ephratah 
church  history. 

The  square  gambrel  roofed  Glen-Sanders  house  was  built  in  1713, 
its  predecessor  of  1659,  the  first  house  built  north  of  the  Mohawk 
west  of  Schenectady,  having  been  rendered  untenable  by  the  en- 
croaching Mohawk.  The  present  house  is  well  preserved  and  con- 
tains many  relics  of  the  past,  and  is  visited  by  hosts  of  people  every 
year.  Lofty  ceilings,  large  rooms,  spacious  attic  and  cellar,  extra 
thick  stone  walls,  massive  dove-tailed  timbers,  and  many  other  re- 
minders of  olden  days  are  present.  The  Abraham  Yates  house, 
Schenectady,  on  Union  street  near  the  First  Dutch  church,  dates 
back  to  about  1730.  Probably  at  first  of  frame  construction  it  was 
later  brick  fronted,  and  additions  built  on.  There  are  several  other 
houses  in  and  about  Schenectady,  built  prior  to  and  during  the 
Revolution  which  have  been  modernized,  as  the  old  home  of  Gov. 
Yates,  at  26  Front  street,  now  occupied  by  Alonzo   P.  Walton. 

The  Mabie  house  was  built  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Mohawk, 
seven  miles  above  Schenectady,  sometime  before  1706 — perhaps  as 
early  as  1670.     Constructed  of  heavy  stones  taken  from  the  neighbor- 


HISTORICAL  NOTES 

ing  hillside  from  which  rose  the  peaked  roof  of  Dutch  architecture. 
The  heavy  floor  of  the  attic  forms  a  planed  ceiling  for  the  second 
story.  The  Brant  house,  near  the  Schenectady  Pumping  Station 
is  given  the  date  of  1736,  but  is  probably  older,  and  is  built  of  brick, 
the  latter  being  laid  in  characteristically  Dutch  style.  The  Schermer- 
horn  house  in  Rotterdam  has  been  occupied  by  the  same  family  and 
their  descendants  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  The  Van  Guysling 
frame  house  in  Rotterdam  dates  back  to  1664,  making  it  the  oldest 
house  in  the  Valley,  while  the  Johannes  Peek  house  was  built  in  1711. 
The  Queen  Anne  parsonage  goes  back  to  1712  and  is  built  of  rough 
stone  two  stories  high.  The  Butler  house  on  Switzer  Hill,  a  mile 
from  Fonda,  was  built  in  1743  by  Walter  Butler,  father  of  Col.  John 
Butler,  father  of  Walter  Butler.  It  is  built  of  oak  and  has  the  usual 
broad  dimensions. 

The  General  William  North  residence  at  Duanesburgh  was  built 
in  1784.  His  wife  was  Mary  Duane,  daughter  of  Judge  Duane,  who 
gave  her  a  thousand  acres.  Hereon  a  splendid  mansion  was  built, 
the  native  woods,  pine  and  maple  and  birch  being  used.  Here  noted 
men  frequently  met  among  whom  were  Baron  Steuben,  whose  aide 
General  North  was.  The  later  Duane  Mansion,  built  at  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  was  the  meeting  place  of  Lafayette,  Webster, 
Madison,  Jay,  Jackson,  Calhoun,  Joseph  the  King  of  Spain,  and  his 
brother,  Jerome  Bonaparte.  The  Duanesburgh  Episcopal  church, 
built  by  Judge  Duane,  is  the  oldest  church  edifice  of  that  denomina- 
tion in  New  York  state.  The  old  stone  house  near  Palatine  Bridge, 
where  Major  John  Frey  was  born,  was  built  in  1740  and  later 
palisaded   and   garrisoned. 


<8> 


186 


Arendt   Van  Curler 

Arendt  Van  Curler  was  one  of  the  earliest  Europeans  to  visit 
the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  had  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
Indian,  as  perhaps  no  one  else,  not  even  Sir  William  Johnson,  ever 
held.  So  great  was  the  regard  of  the  Indian  for  him  that  we  find 
them  addressing  the  Governors  of  New  York  as  "Corlaers"  long  after 
his  death.  The  Iroquois  word  "Kora"  comes  from  Corlaer,  a  term 
applied  to  the  Dutch  Governors  of  Orange  and  New  Amsterdam,  and 
to  the  English  Governors  of  Albany  and  New  York,  and  to  all  the 
Governors  of  New  England,  The  Mohawks  of  Canada  still  refer  to  the 
Governor-general  as  "Corl,"  and  they  were  accustomed  to  speak  of 
Queen  Victoria  as  "Kora-Kowa,"  i.  e.  the  "great  Corlaer."  Van 
Curler  came  to  America  in  1638  as  an  agent  for  his  cousin,  Kilian 
Van  Rensselaer,  who,  tho  he  owned  some  seven  hundred  thousand 
acres  of  land,  including  all  of  Albany,  and  most  of  Columbia  and 
Rensselaer  counties,  and  considerable  in  the  Black  River  country, 
never  left  his  home  in  the  Netherlands  That  this  Van  Rensselaer 
manor  was  the  only  successful  of  the  several  manors  laid  out  was 
due  to  the  genius  of  Van  Curler,  born  of  noble  blood,  a  sterling 
character,  of  great  strength,  physical  and  mental,  and  of  a  high  morrl 
nature  all  of  which  combined  to  win  him  the  love  of  the  civilized 
European  as  well  of  the  uncivilized  Indian.  There  were  three 
Van  Curlers,  the  least  important  one  being  immortalized  by 
Washington  Irving — a  Jacobus  Van  Curler,  a  New  Netherlands 
school  master,  and  Arendt.  It  was  Van  Curler's  broad  states- 
manship and  his  practical  common  sense  wisdom  that  won 
him  the  esteem  of  the  Iroquois,  the  most  powerful  con- 
federacy of  Indians  over  known;  it  was  his  high  ideals  of  peace  and 
friendship  that  acted  as  a  defense  against  French  aggression,  it  was 
the  Dutch  blood  coursing  in  his  veins  that  led  the  colonists  finally 
to  liberty  and  self-government,  and  away  forever  from  the  French 
ideals  and  traditions;  it  was  Van  Curler  who  prevented  the  French 
from  Sver  possessing  the  Hudson  and  Mohawk  valleys,  gateways 
alike  to  the  ocean  and  the  great  west.  Van  Curler  was  a  true 
humanitarian.  He  was  opposed  to  the  feudal  system  imposed  on  all 
land  sales  by  the  Van  Rensselaers.  In  1642  he  leaves  Albany  and  goes 
as  far  west  as  Fonda — apparently  to  save  the  French  Jesuits  who 
were  marked  for  martyrdom  by  the  fierce  Mohawks.  And  he  suc- 
ceeded. In  his  letter  to  the  patroon,  June  16,  1643,  he  describes  the 
Valley  of  the  Mohawk  as  "the  fairest  land  the  eyes  of  man  ever 
rested  upon."  In  July  1661  he  bought  a  great  tract  of  land  of  the 
Mohawks  and  founded  the  present  city  of  Schenectady.  In  1667, 
while  crossing  Lake  Champlain  to  visit  Gov.  Tracy  of  Canada,  he 
was  drowned.  His  widow  continued  to  live  in  Schenectady  until  her 
death  in  1675. 


187 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 


Sir   William  Johnson — Bart 


Sir  William  Johnson, 
the  son  of  Christopher 
and  Anna  Warren  John- 
son, was  born  in  the 
county  of  Meath,  Ireland, 
in  \1\ST  At  the  age  of 
twenty  he  came  to  Ameri- 
ca to  act  as  an  agent  for 
his  uncle,  Peter  Warren. 
Admiral  Warren  had 
married  the  daughter  of 
Stephen  De  Lancey,  a 
wealthy  aristocrat  of  the 
provincial  metropolis,  and 
built  there  a  new  home, 
now  known  as  No.  1 
Broadway,  later  the  head- 
quarters of  Generals 
Howe,  Clinton  and  Carle- 
ton.  It  was  from  this 
home  that  Major  Andre 
set  out  on  his  mission  to 
aid  Arnold,  with  whom  he 
had  been  intimate  for 
years,  to  consummate  his 
his  treachery.  At  the  time 
of  Johnson's  coming  Capt. 
Warren  had  acquired 
a  title  to  a  tract  of  fifteen  thousand  acres  of  land  in  the  present  town 
of  Florida  (Montgomery  Co.).  In  correspondence  his  uncle  Peter 
speaks  of  William  as  a  wayward  youth  in  the  home  land  who  is 
being  sent  out  to  the  new  world  in  the  hope  that  its  experience  will 
discipline  him.  One  of  the  elements,  perhaps  the  chief  one,  that 
called  for  this  chastisement  was  his  attachment  to  an  Irish  colleen 
which  met  the  serious  objection  of  both  his  parents  and  his  uncle. 
Thus  it  happened  that  when  the  lad  was  ready  to  take  up  his  new 
work  in  America  he  left  behind  him  in  the  port  town  of  Drogheda  a 
broken-hearted  girl,  to  whom,  however,  he  pledged  a  sure  return  for 
marriage.  But  the  girl  knew  that  it  was  to  break  up  this  alliance  that 
he  was  being  sent  away  and  instinctively  she  felt  that  they  would 
never  see  each  other  again.  We  shall  see  how  this  incident  colored 
the  whole  after  life  of  William  Johnson  and  gave  him  an  unenviable 
reputation  among  the  settlers  of  those  days.  Soon  after  the  arrival 
of  Johnson  he  was  made  the  agent  of  the  English  government  for  the 
Iroquois  or  Six  Nations.  This  was  in  June,  1738,  the  birth  year  of 
King  George  III.  He  began  an  extensive  fur  trade  with  the  Indians 
and  in  various  ways  secured  large  tracts  of  land.  He  adopted  not  a 
few  of  the  customs  of  the  Mohawks,  learned  their  language,  and  in 
1746,  was  formally  adopted  into  the  tribe  and  given  the  title,  Wa-ra- 
i-ya-ge, — i.  e.  "chief  director  of  affairs."  While  advancing  his  own 
personal  interests  he  kept  the  Amerind  loyal  to  the  English  cause. 
His  alliances,  first  with  Caroline  Hendrick,  daughter  of  "King"  Hen- 


188 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

drick,  and  later  with  Molly  Brant,  sister  of  Joseph  Brant  the  noted 
Indian  leader,  and  his  intimacy  with  many  of  the  wives  of  the  chiefs 
of  the  various  tribes,  gave  him  increasing  power  over  the  Red  men, 
and  until  his  death  made  his  name  a  tower  of  strength  and  influence 
in  the  valley  in  the  dealings  of  the  Indians  with  the  white  settlers  and 
in   their   relations   to   the   home   government. 

Johnson's  first  settlement  in  the  new  world  was  on  the  land  of 
his  uncle,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Warren's  Bush.  This  settle- 
ment was  about  half  a  mile  below  what  is  now  (south)  Amsterdam, 
and  as  late  as  1795  was  known  as  "Johnson's  Settlement."  Johnson 
lived  there  five  years  and  here  his  first  son,  John,  was  born.  A  plan 
was  devised  whereby  a  homestead  was  to  be  given  to  the  first  five 
hundred  families  emigrating  from  Europe.  In  the  first  five  years  he 
had  disposed  of  more  than  two-thirds  of  all  his  uncle's  holdings,  these 
being  on  the  south  side  of  the  Mohawk  and  west  of  Schenectady.  It 
was  while  Johnson  was  settled  at  Warren's  Bush  that  his  alliance  with 
Catherine  Weisenberg  began.  Two  miles  below  Johnson's  store  was 
a  tavern  kept  by  Alexander  and  Hamilton  Phillips  at  what  is  now 
called  Phillips'  Locks.  The  Groat  brothers  (cf  Amsterdam)  were 
living  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  at  what  is  now  Cranesville 
("Adriutha").  Simms  the  historian  of  the  Mohawk  and  Schoharie 
valleys  gets  his  information  from  persons  who  were  very  close  to 
these  occurrences,  indeed  witnesses  of  much  that  he  narrates,  hence 
their  historic  credibility  and  authenticity.  He  says  that  Lewis  Groat 
suggested  the  desirability  of  marriage  to  William  Johnson,  but  the 
latter  said  that  he  wanted  to  marry  a  girl  in  the  old  country,  but  his 
folks  prevented  it.  He  had  determined  that  he  would  never  marry, 
but,  he  added,  that  he  proposed  to  raise  a  numerous  progeny.  Even 
if  one  doubts  the  conversation  there  is  an  abundance  of  evidence  to 
prove  that  Johnson  carried  out  the  spirit  of  this  determination. 

Johnson's  first  mesalliance  was  with  Catherine  Weisenberg,  a 
"High  Dutch"  girl,  then  a  Palatine  orphan,  whom  he  had  met  at  the 
Phillips'  tavern.  Her  passage  money  had  been  paid  by  Alexander 
Phillips,  to  whom  she  was  bound  out  by  the  captain  of  the  sailing 
vessel  for  a  term  sufficient  to  meet  this  indebtedness.  It  was  a  com- 
mon custom  of  the  time.  Phillips  protested  against  giving  up  the 
girl  but  Johnson  finally  won  out,  paid  the  passage  money,  and  took 
her  to  his  settlement  to  be  his  housekeeper.  One  historian  says 
Catherine  was  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Jacob  Weisenberg,  a  Lutheran 
pastor  at  Schenectady,  who  was  appointed  by  Governor  Clinton 
in  1745,  an  Indian  commissioner.  It  is  said  that  the  baronet 
availed  himself  of  the  Iroquois  custom,  still  prevalent  among 
certain  Mexican  tribes,  of  allotting  to  distinguished  visitors  their 
choice  of  maiden  or  squaw  during  their  stay  among  the  tribe.  Hence 
William  Johnson  in  the  years  raised  up  a  numerous  progeny  among 
the  Indian  women,  who  were  proud  of  the  honor  thus  bestowed  up- 
on them.  This  policy  was  the  practice  of  the  French  colonists,  urged 
on  them  by  the  French  King.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  while  the 
men  friends  of  Sir  William  Johnson  frequently  called  on  him  at  Fort 
Johnson  and  Johnson  Hall  the  women  acquaintances  and  the  wives 
of  the  men  mentioned  seldom  if  ever  went  to  his  home,  owing  to  this 
well  known  unmoral  attitude  of  the  Indian  commissioner.  In  1743 
Johnson  bought  a  large  tract  of  land  upon  the  north-west  bank  of  the 
Mohawk  on  both  sides  of  the  Kayaderosseros  creek.     In  1742  he  built 

189 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

a  grist  mill  and  the  stone  house  now  called  Fort  Johnson,  the  first 
colonial  mansion  in  New  York  state.  He  had  brot  sixty  Scotch- 
Irish  families  to  this  estate,  all  Romanists,  and  had  settled  them  in 
Perth,  Broadalbin,  Galway,  and  Johnstown.  It  was  from  these 
families  that  Sir  John  Johnson,  after  the  death  of  Sir  William,  re- 
cruited his  body-guard  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  at  Johnson  Hall.  In 
1745  the  baronet  was  importing  breeding  horses  and  stock;  in  1746 
he  was  shipping  flour  to  the  West  Indies,  and  was  the  largest  slave 
holder  in  the  Province.  In  1769,  five  years  before  his  death,  the  crown, 
on  the  request  of  Sir  William,  gave  him  what  is  called,  the  "Royal 
Grant,"  an  estate  of  sixty  thousand  acres  of  land,  the  tract  extending 
between  East  and  West  Canada  creeks,  on  the  north  side  of  the  Mo- 
hawk. It  included  the  present  site  of  Herkimer  and  Little  Falls.  The 
tradition  of  Johnson  securing  this  land  from  "King"  Hendrick  thro 
dreams  is  as  fascinating  as  it  is  fanciful.  Sir  William  was  always  keen 
on  futures,  both  for  himself  and  his  families,  and  he  had  a  lot  of  folks 
to  remember  in  his  will,  and  wanted  his  property  and  lands  to  go 
around. 

Sir  William's  first  residence  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  was  at 
what  is  now  Fort  Johnson.  Because  of  certain  grants  of  land  by 
Ethan  Akin  to  the  N.  Y.  C.  H.  R.  R.  the  place  for  many  years  was 
called  Fort  Akin  but  in  1912  this  was  changed  to  Fort  Johnson.  The 
old  baronial  home  has  now  for  several  years  been  the  headquarters 
of  the  Montgomery  County  Historical  Society.  East  of  Fort  Johnson, 
or  "Mount  Johnson"  as  it  was  first  called,  Sir  William  built  a  two 
story  stone  house  for  his  daughter  Mary  (born  in  1744)  who  married 
her  cousin,  Guy  Johnson,  a  nephew  of  Sir  William.  And  about  midway 
between  this  residence  and  his  own  home  he  built  another  house  for 
his  daughter  Nancy  Anne  (born  1740),  who  married  Col.  Daniel 
Claus.  There  was  a  tract  of  land  about  a  mile  square  attached  to 
each  of  these  two  residences. 

Mrs.  Nancy  Claus  went  to  Canada  in  1776  and  died  there 
soon  afterwards.  A  child  of  this  marriage,  Mary,  married  Lord 
Clyde,  better  known  as  Sir'  Colin  Campbell  of  British  fame,  whose 
Highlanders  raised  the  seige  of  Lucknow.  When  Sir  William  re- 
moved to  Johnstown,  named  for  Sir  William's  oldest  son,  in  1763,  he 
left  his  son,  John  Johnson,  in  the  home  at  Mount  Johnson.  The 
Johnson  family  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  the  ruling  family  of 
the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  living  as  aristocratic  nobles,  surrounded 
by  a  sort  of  feudal  system  borrowed  from  the  old  world,  but  ex- 
ceedingly offensive  to  the  liberty  loving  German  and  Dutch  settlers. 
An  estate  of  two  hundred  thousand  acres,  the  largest  in  the  world 
at  the  time,  was  not  in  accord  with  the  growing  spirit  of  democracy 
in  the  new  world.  The  house  Sir  William  built  for  Mrs.  Claus  was 
soon  afterwards  accidentally  destroyed  by  fire,  but  the  Guy  Johnson 
house,  Fort  Johnson,  and  Johnson  Hall  at  Johnstown  are  well  pre- 
served. The  last  was  built  in  1763.  Of  the  alliance  of  Sir  William 
with  Catherine  Weisenberg,  three  children  were  born,  Mary  (Mrs. 
Guy  Johnson),  Nancy  (Mrs.  Claus),  and  John  Johnson  (born  in  1742), 
Mrs.  Grant,  to  whose  work  we  have  referred  in  the  article  on  the  Pala- 
tines, visited  the  home  of  Sir  William  Johnson,  and  writes  most  in- 
terestingly of  the  life  at  Mount  Johnson,  especially  emphasizing  the- 
strict  seclusion  under  which  these  first  daughters  were  kept.  John  John- 
son was  born  Nov.  5,  1742.    The  mother,  Catherine  Weisenberg,  died  in 


190 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

1745,  and  was  buried  near  the  baronet's  house  at  Fort  Johnson,  tho 
in  later  years  the  grave  was  completely  lost  track  of.  There  is  no 
extant  evidence  that  Sir  William  Johnson  was  ever  married — to  this 
woman,  or  to  Molly  Brant,  whom  he  refers  to  even  in  his  will  as  a 
"housekeeper,"  or  to  Caroline  Hendrick  (niece  of  King  Hendrick) 
or  to  any  of  the  others  who  bore  him  children.  His  son,  John  John- 
son, was  knighted  a  year  or  more  before  his  father's  death,  and  at  the 
personal  solicitation  of  the  father  who  must  have  known  that  the 
question  of  legitimacy  might  have  thwarted  this  honor  after  the 
decease  of  the  baronet.  And,  again,  we  have  too  keen  a  respect  for 
the  ability  and  shrewdness  of  Mollie  Brant  to  believe  that  if  she  were 
the  lawful  wife  of  Sir  William,  as  some  writers  assert,  that  she  would 
have  allowed  herself  and  her  eight  children  to  be  driven  back  to  the 
savage  conditions  of  her  Indian  tribe. 

Besides  these  homes  we  have  mentioned  Sir  William  also  had 
others  on  his  great  estate,  one  at  what  is  now  known  as  the  Fish  House 
(Fulton  County)  a  woody  summer  resort  under  the  care  of 
the  two  Wormwood  women.  Another  home,  with  its  attendant  fur- 
nishing was  built  at  Broadalbin.  Caroline  Hendrick,  to  whom  refer- 
ence has  been  made,  died  in  1752,  and  Molly  Brant  was  then  brot  to 
Mount  Johnson  to  care  for  Caroline's  three  children.  One  of  these, 
William  of  Canajoharie,  whose  Indian  name  was  Teg-che-un-to,  and 
who  was  killed  at  the  Battle  of  Oriskany,  is  mentioned  in  the  baronet's 
will.  Two  daughters,  Charlotte  and  Caroline,  had  already  received 
their  dowry  at  their  marriage.  Charlotte  married  Henry  Randall,  a 
young  British  officer  who,  later  joined  the  Continentals  and  fell  at 
the  Battle  of  Monmouth.  Caroline  married  Michael  Byrne,  who 
clerked  for  Sir  William.  He  was  one  of  Butler's  Rangers  and  was 
killed  at  Oriskany.  His  widow  married  Mr.  McKin,  a  Canadian 
Indian  agent.  Francis  Parkman,  the  eminent  historian,  refers  to  an 
alliance  that  Sir  William  had  with  one  Eleanor  Wallaslous,  but  does 
not  quote  any  authority.  The  marriage  of  Sir  William  Johnson  Bart 
to  Elizabeth  Cleland  on  March  10,  1757,  published  in  the  "Gentleman's 
Magazine"  and  the  "London  Magazine"  in  1757,  refers  to  another 
family  of  another  name.  Molly  Brant  the  "tribal  wife"  of  Sir  William 
went  to  Fort  Johnson  in  1752  and  lived  with  Sir  William  until  the 
time  of  his  death  in  1774.  She  was  the  half-breed  step-daughter  of 
"Nickus  Brant,"  at  whose  place  Johnson  always  stopped  when  visiting 
Canajoharie.  Her  mother  was  a  Mohawk  squaw.  Jared  Sparks  the 
noted  historian  of  the  Revolution,  and  other  annalists  say  that  Joseph 
Brant  was  the  natural  son  of  Sir  William  by  this  Mohawk  squaw, 
which  might  account  for  the  baronet's  faithful  attention  to  Joseph. 
It  is  a  singular  commentary  on  the  influence  of  this  baronial  home 
that  after  so  long  a  period  of  contact  with  the  best  that  there  was  in 
that  day  in  the  valley,  Molly  Brant,  the  close  companion  of  the 
baronet,  and  her  halfbreeds  all  reverted  to  savagery,  except  possibly 
one  son,  Peter.  The  mother  died  in  Canada  in  1805.  In  1757  because 
of  his  part  in  the  battle  of  Lake  George  wherein  the  French  were  de- 
feated, Sir  William  was  knighted  and  given  a  reward  of  five  thousand 
pounds  Sterling.  Johnson  was  also  in  command  at  the  fall  of  Fort 
Niagara  in  1759,  and  in  the  surrender  of  Canada  in  1760  he  led  a  thous- 
and Iroquois  against  Montreal.  Johnson  was  vigorous  of  body  and 
fertile  of  mind,  tho  coarse  in  conduct  and  unmoral  in  action.  He 
made   the   most   of   an    opportune   period   and    quickly   rose    from    the 

191 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

ranks  to  be  commander  of  the  army,  and  from  colonist  to 
baronet.  Almost  invariably  the  histories  of  the  valley  refer  to  his 
generosity  toward  all  Christian  work.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  death 
he  seems  to  have  been  the  prime  mover  in  every  religious  undertaking 
of  the  valley,  no  matter  what  the  denomination.  This  is  what  the 
books  say  and  later  writers  who  follow  the  books.  Doubtless  he  did 
a  great  deal  toward  establishing  his  own  communion,  the  Church  of 
England.  But  amid  all  the  lists  of  donors  to  the  erection  of  the  Dutch 
churches,  as  at  German  Flatts,  Herkimer,  Stone  Arabia,  St.  Johnsville, 
Fonda,  Manheim — enterprises  of  his  day,  we  have  never  seen  his  name, 
tho  these  lists  contain  many  of  the  names  of  the  settlers  of  the  Mo-' 
hawk  and  Schoharie  valleys.  And  it  was  natural  that  he  should 
favor  his  own  church,  the  Church  of  England,  whose  ministry  and 
membership  in  their  entirety  were  inimical  to  the  colonists  in  theirr 
struggle  for  Independence,  and  whose  persistent  and  seditious  efforts 
to  establish  a  foreign  hierarchy  in  America  precipitated  the  American 
Revolution.  When  Queens  College  (Rutgers)  was  founded  by  royal 
charter  in  1766  upon  the  petition  of  the  ministers  and  members  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  church  in  America,  Sir  William  Johnson,  represent-'1 
ing  the  interests  of  England,  was  made  one  of  the  forty-one  directors, 
the  Governor,  Chief-Justice,  and  Attorney  General  of  the  New  Jersey 
Province,  heading  the  list.  The  college  buildings  constructed  were 
burned  by  the  British  in  1778.  Johnson's  correspondence  shows  that, 
in  £h e- -b-e g-i n niag— . at-4^»st  he   was  in   league  with   England's   policy  of< 

6Mfcfc^T7iJnatinff-t4ie_  1  i)-iP,P^y=rh-rsziiig    r rd^rrr^K^txL-j4n-'    Mnl  i  J  ml  -j/ allay        In 

1746  Capt.  Warren  Johnson  of  the  Royal  Army,  the  baronet's  brother, 
visited  him  at  Fort  Johnson,  bearing  important  message  from  General 
Clinton.  On  March  IS,  1747,  William  Johnson  wrote  Gov.  Clinton, 
complaining  that  the  government  was  likely  to  ruin  him  for  lack  of 
blankets,  and  paints,  and  guns  and  cutlasses,  commodoties  promised 
their  copper  colored  allies  who  were  bringing  in  prisoners  and  all 
sorts  of  scalps  to  Mount  Johnson.  In  May,  1747,  he  writes  of  the 
youth,  Walter  Butler's  successful  scalping  expedition.  He  refers 
to  a  party  of  six  Mohawks  who  had  just  brot  in  seven  prisoners  and 
three  scalps  and  adds  "this  is  very  good  for  so  small  a  party."  Fort 
Johnson  in  those  days  must  have  afforded  a  gruesome  sight  with  its 
walls  plastered  with  the  scalps  of  the  men,  women,  and  children  of 
the  valley.  Johnson,  European  and  Mohawk,  colonist  and  baronet, 
was  also  the  Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde  of  pre-Revolutionary  times. 
Sir  William  Johnson  died  at  Johnston  Hall,  Johnstown,  on  July 
11,  1774.  The  troubles  between  the  Colonists  and  the  Indians  and 
between  the  Colonists  and  the  mother  country  were  beginning  to  tell 
upon  him.  We  credit  him  with  prophetic  vision,  for  he  must  have 
seen  the  clouds  of  conflict  gathering;  he  must  have  been  keenly 
alive  to  what  would  happen  when  the  savages  were  once  unfetterd; 
he  knew  only  too  well  the  determination  of  the  colonists,  the  liberty- 
loving  Dutch,  and  the  Palatines  with  half  a  century  of  unjust  oppres- 
sion behind  them  in  the  valleys  of  the  "Schorie"  and  "Mohaque,"  he 
doubtless  felt  that  England  would  play  a  losing  game  with  the  In- 
dependents; he  had  received  lavish  gifts  of  gold  and  honor  from  his 
mother  land,  and  at  the  same  time,  had  cemented  here  in  the  valley 
privileged  fellowship  with  these  hardy  pioneers  who  represented  him 
and  were  guided  and  helped  by  his  never  failing  counsels.  The  year 
before  his  death   he  had  been  to   England  and  he  knew  the   mind  of 

192 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

the  ministry  there,  or,  at  least,  he  knew  the  plans  of  those  who  would 
have  charge  of  the  war,  if  the  conflict  once  came.  In  vision  fearful 
he  saw  the  slaughtered  tribes  of  Red  men,  the  devastated  homes  of 
the  settlers,  all  of  whom  were  his  friends.  Was  there  a  premonition 
of  his  death  in  the  reported  conversation  with  John  B.  Van  Epps  of 
Schenectady,  or  Lewis  Groat  of  Cranesville,  or  Mr.  Campbell,  to 
whom  it  is  said  he  remarked  in  some  such  words  as  these — "I  see 
the  conflict  coming,  but  I  will  never  live  to  see  it."  On  the  day  of 
his  death  he  was  attending  the  Tryon  county  court  at  Johnstown.  He 
was  wearied  with  the  conferences  he  had  held  with  the  Indians.  A 
package  of  personal  correspondence  had  just  come  from  England. 
He  took  it,  left  the  court  room,  went  to  his  home,  and  in  an  hour  or 
so  Sir  William  Johnson,  Baronet,  was  dead.  What  choice  he  would 
have  made  in  the  impending  struggle — between  his  beloved  England 
and  his  beloved  friends,  the  latter  both  Colonists  and  Iroquois,  is 
only  conjectural.  His  last  word  was  spoken  in  the  Mohawk  tongue  to 
Brant,  "Joseph,  control  your  people,  I'm  going  away." 

Sir  William  Johnson  was  buried  a  few  days  later  beneath  the 
altar  of  the  stone  church  at  Johnstown  which  he  had  caused  to  be 
erected  in  17G4.  The  body  was  first  placed  in  a  mahogany  casket,  then 
sealed  in  a  lead  container.  During  the  Revolution  this  lead  covering 
was  removed  and  run  into  bullets.  Campbell  says  that  the  body  was 
taken  up  in  1806  and  the  "bones  re-interred,"  but  he  does  not  say 
why  this  was  done.  But  we  know  that  there  was  a  time  in  the  early 
years  of  the  past  century  when  St.  John's  church  was  much  neglected 
and  falling  into  ruins.  The  church,  after  the  Revolution  had  been 
used  by  the  Presbyterians,  except  for  eight  Sundays  in  each  year, 
when  the  Episcopalians  might  hold  worship  therein.  The  boys  of  the 
day  found  their  way  into  the  building  and  one  tells  how  they  used  to 
get  into  the  vault  where  they  would  read  the  brass-nailed  inscription 
on  the  casket  of  Sir  William,  and  when  the  waters  of  the  Cayadutta 
broke  their  bounds  and  overflowed  into  the  vault  they  watched  the 
casket  floating  around. 

In  the  fire  of  1836  when  the  church  was  destroyed  they  re-cased  the 
body  before  a  second  (or  third)  burial,  but  hung  the  coffin-lid  with  its 
brass  inscription  in  the  chancel.  In  the  second  fire,  which  burned  out 
the  church  interior,  this  was  consumed.  When  the  church  was  re- 
built after  the  fire  of  1836,  the  vault  was  without  the  edifice,  and  it 
was  not  until  1862  that  it  was  discovered,  and  the  bones  again  in- 
terred with  a  monument  marking  the  spot.  We  do  not  know  in  all 
American  history  such  an  illustration  of  the  complete  overthrow  in 
so  short  a  time  of  the  great  ambitions,  and  the  well-laid  plans,  and 
the  consummate  skill  that  was  embodied  in  the  establishment  of  a 
magnificient  kingdom  in  this  New  World  under  the  leadership  of  Sir 
William  Johnson.  Within  a  few  months  the  vision  splendid,  which 
had  a  most  substantial  basis  of  fact,  had  crumbled  into  dust.  The 
world's  greatest  honors  were  his,  untold  wealth,  a  land-kingdom  of  a 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  acres,  houses  of  stability  that  are  still 
with  us  after  a  century  and  a  half,  the  men  of  the  old  and  new  worlds, 
his  friends  and  admirers.  Studiously,  prophetically  he  devised  this 
vast  estate,  binding  all  the  heirs  that  it  should  remain  intact.  But 
in  a  short  time  the  eldest  son  is  an  exile  and  an  object  of  infamy,  while 
today  instead  of  the  boundless  feudal  kingdom  there  is  a  great  free 
State  with  a  multitude  of  farms,  and  villages,  towns,  and  cities.     Not 

193 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

much  more  than  a  name  remains  to  recall  the  story,  while  the  in- 
fluence of  the  lives  of  the  men  and  women  who  loved  God  first  and 
liberty  afterwards  still  abides  in  the  increasing  devotion  of  their  de- 
scendants to  God  and  Home  and  Native  Land. 

Sir  John  Johnson 

Sir  John  Johnson,  the  eldest  son  and  heir  of  Sir  William  John- 
son and  Catherine  Weisenberg,  was  born  at  Warrenbush,  November 
5,  1742,  and  died  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight  at  Montreal,  January  4, 
1830.  He  is  referred  to  elsewhere  in  this  history  under  Sir  William 
Johnson,  Border  Wars,  Iroquois,  etc.  When  Sir  William  left  Mount 
Johnson  in  1763  to  found  Johnstown,  named  after  the  heir,  Sir  John 
took  up  his  residence  at  what  is  now  called  Fort  Johnson.  The 
mistress  of  this  baronial  mansion  for  a  decade  was  the  beautiful  Clara 
Putman  of  the  Mohawk  valley,  by  whom  Sir  John  had  several 
children.  Then  a  new  love  came  into  his  life  in  the  person  of  Mary 
("Polly")  Watts,  the  daughter  of  a  wealthy  New  York  Loyalist,  and 
forgetting  his  promise  of  marriage  to  Clara  Putman  he  married  Mary 
Watts  June  30,  1773,  who  died  August  7,  1815.  On  his  return  to  the 
mansion  Sir  John  had  Clara  Putman  and  her  children  removed,  first 
to  the  town  of  Florida,  then  to  Schenectady,  where  it  is  said  he  bot 
a  home  for  her,  and  where  she  lived  until  1840.  At  this  time  Sir  John 
held  a  Colonelcy  in  a  Regt.  of  Horse  in  northern  New  York,  and 
afterwards  served  the  King  as  Maj.  General,  and  as  Lieut.  Colonel 
of  the  "Royal  Greens."  Sir  John  and  Mary  Watts  Johnson  had  eight 
children — William  (borne  in  1775),  who  married  Susan  de  Lancey; 
Adam  Gordon,  who  became  a  third  baronet;  James,  Stephen,  Robert, 
Warren;  John,  who  married  Mary,  the  daughter  of  Richard  Dillon  of 
Montreal;  Charles  Christopher,  and  Archibald  Kennedy  (born  in 
1792).  Now  and  then  writers  have  carelessly  interchanged  the  names 
and  work  of  Sir  John  with  those  of  Guy  Johnson  who  married  his 
sister,  Mary,  and  who  became  the  Indian  Agent  on  the  death  of  Sir 
William,  and  who  was  an  irresponsible  officer  of  the  British  Crown. 
The  life  and  character  of  Sir  John  are  best  revealed  in  the  stirring 
times  prior  to  the  Revolution,  and  during  it,  and  in  the  Border  Wars 
after  the  Treaty  of  Peace  had  been  signed,  and  in  his  alliance  with 
the  Indians  to  annihilate  the  Colonists  and  devastate  the  Valley  of 
the  Mohawk. 


General  Nicholas  Herkimer 


Herkimer    House 
Built  in  1764 


Gen.  Nicholas  Herkimer  was  the 
foremost  American  in  the  Mohawk 
Valley,  if  not  in  the  Province  of  New 
York,  during  the  quarter-century  pre- 
ceding the  signing  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence.  He  was  the  eldest 
son  of  Johan  Jost  and  Catherine  Her- 
kimer and  was  born,  as  were  his 
twelve  brothers  and  sisters,  in  the 
log  house,  built  in  1721  by  his  father 
when  he  settled  at  Burnetsfield. 
Documentary  proof  is  lacking  as  to 
the  racial  ancestry  of  the  Herkimers, 


194 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

but  the  preponderance  of  opinion  is  that  the  General's  father,  Johan 
Jost,  and  his  grandfather,  Jurgh  (George)  Herkimer  emmigrated  to 
Holland  from  the  Lower  Palatinate,  and  came  to  America  in  1710,  and 
to  the  present  Fort  Herkimer  in  1721.  His  first  house  was  of  logs, 
just  east  of  the  village,  but  about  1740  a  stone  structure  was  built 
about  fifty  rods  west  of  the  present  Dutch  Reformed  church.  It  was 
forty  feet  wide,  seventy  feet  long,  with  walls  two  feet  thick,  two 
stories,  with  steep  roof  covered  with  three  foot  long  shingles.  This 
house  was  torn  down  about  1812,  many  of  the  stones  being  used  in 
the  second  story  of  the  Fort  Herkimer  church  which  at  that  time  was 
enlarged.  The  earliest  name  of  the  place  was  Kouari  (Oquari),  a 
Mohawk  term  for  "bear."  When  the  1740  Herkimer  house  was  forti- 
fied (about  1756  when  Sir  William  Johnson  also  fortified  the  church) 
it  was  called  Fort  Kouari,  later  Fort  Herkimer.  The  General  Herki- 
mer home  (shown  in  illustration)  was  built  in  1764.  Here  General 
Herkimer  died  in  1777,  aged  fifty,  ten  days  after  the  Battle  of 
Oriskany.  His  brother,  Captain  George  Herkimer,  and,  after  his 
death  in  1786,  his  widow,  Alida  Schuyler  Herkimer  and  her  sons, 
Major  John  and  Joseph  Herkimer,  lived  in  this  house  until  1817,  in 
which  year  it  passed  out  the  family.  In  1914  it  was  bot  by  the 
State  of  New  York.  In  1848  Warren  Herkimer  (son  of  Joseph),  who 
died  at  Janesville,  Wis.,  in  1878,  marked  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
grave  of  Gen.  Herkimer,  and  in  1896  an  obelisk  sixty  feet  high  was 
placed  on  the  spot  by  the  U.  S.  Government.  Herkimer  was  the 
personification  of  a  fearless  Independent,  the  living  embodiment  of 
a  sturdy  American,  the  most  prominent  among  the  first  contenders 
of  those  democratic  ideals  that  in  time  created  out  of  the  colonies  a 
Nation   that   today   stands   first  among  the   world   powers. 

Joseph  Brant 

Joseph  Brant  was  born  about  1742,  but 
whether,  as  some  historians  say,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ohio,  a  pure  native  Indian, 
or  at  Canajoharie,  where  the  mother  of 
Joseph  and  Mollie  Brant  lived,  after  the 
death  of  her  first  husband  in  the  west, 
and  where  Sir  William  Johnson  spent 
much  of  his  time,  it  is  difficult  to  say. 
Sparks  and  other  annalists  of  that  day 
do  not  hesitate  to  attribute  his  birth  to 
Sir  William  Johnson,  and  refer  to  the  un- 
usual attachment  and  personal  concern  of 
the  baronet  to  the  youth  because  of  this 
paternity.  His  Indian  name  was  "Thay-en-da-ne-ge-a"  which  means 
a  "bundle  of  sticks,"  that  is,  "strength."  An  Indian  named  "Carrihoga" 
had  married  the  mother  of  Joseph,  to  whom  the  settlers  gave  the 
name  of  Barent  (Brant).  Elsewhere  Molly  Brant  is  referred  to  as 
the  Mistress  of  Mount  Johnson.  Joseph  was  sent  to  the  Indian 
school  of  Dr.  Eleazer  Wheelock  at  Lebanon,  Ct.  (which  ensued  in 
Dartmouth  College)  with  the  purpose  of  training  him  for  a  missionary 
among  the  Mohawks.  He  served  in  this  capacity  for  a  few  years 
under   Kirkland,   who   sought   to   get   him   to   remain   netural   as    the 

195 


BIOGRAPHICAL  NOTES 

Revolution  approached.  But  Sir  William  Johnson's  relationship  and 
influence  overcame  this.  Joseph  Brant  visited  England  in  1775  and 
1783,  and  entered  into  certain  agreements  with  the  Crown.  He  held 
a  Colonel's  commission  from  the  king.  Brant  married  a  daughter  of 
Colonel  Croghan  in  1779,  the  ceremony  being  performed  by  former 
Justice  of  the  Crown,  John  Butler,  father  of  Walter  Butler.  An 
Erie  county  town  is  called  after  him.  He  died  November  24,  1807, 
aged  sixty-five.  One  of  his  sons  was  in  the  British  army  in  the  war 
of  1812,  and  a  daughter  married  W.  J.  Kerr  of  Niagara  in  1824.  He 
lies  buried  in  the  Mohawk  churchyard  near  Brantford,  Can.  After 
Brant's  death  efforts  were  made  to  "better"  his  character,  principally 
because  English  aristocracy  had  feted  him,  the  crown  had  honored 
him,  and,  because  he  had  not  always  killed.  But  such  wanton  murder 
as  that  of  Lieut.  Wormed  at  Cherry  Valley,  an  intimate  friend  of 
Brant,  whom  the  latter  himself  tomahawked,  and  many  other  like 
incidents  stand  in  the  way  of  this. 

Walter  Butler 

Walter  Butler  was  the  son  of  Colonel  John  Butler,  a  Justice 
of  the  King's  Court  of  Tryon.  Both  father  and  son  held  commissions 
in  the  English  army  and  were  with  St.  Leger  at  Oriskany.  The 
Butler  estate  (old  house  still  standing)  included  lands  in  the  present 
site  of  Fonda,  upon  which  land  the  old  Caughnawaga  church  was 
built,  which  fact  saved  it  from  destruction  in  the  October,  1780,  raid. 
Robert  Chambers  has  given  us  in  his  "Cardigan"  a  graphic  account 
of  the  part  played  by  Butler  in  the  valley,  whose  name  is  the  most 
odious  in  all  the  history  of  the  Mohawk  and  Schoharie  country.  He 
outsavaged  the  savage  in  his  diabolical  treatment  of  all  who  were 
not  English.  In  his  youthful  scalping  expeditions  Sir.  William  John- 
son in  correspondence  compliments  him.  After  Oriskany  he  visited 
German  Flatts  with  fourteen  Tories  and  tried  to  get  the  settlers  there 
to  ally  with  the  King.  He  was  arrested,  condemned  to  death  as  a 
spy,  imprisoned  at  Albany,  and  escaped  later  thro  influence,  and 
reached  Canada  where  he  joined  his  father's  regiment  of  "Butler's 
Rangers."  To  Colonel  Willet  fell  the  privilege  of  ridding  earth  of 
this  incarnate  fiend.  On  October  24,  1781,  Willet  set  out  from  Fort 
Rensselaer  (near  Fort  Plain)  for  Fort  Hunter,  twenty  miles  distant, 
in  pursuit  of  the  British  force  of  600  under  Major  Ross,  and  to 
fight  later  the  Battle  of  Johnstown.  October  25,  1781.  The  enemy 
were  soon  in  flight,  Willet  pursuing  them,  Tories  and  Indians  (500), 
across  West  Canada  Creek,  north  of  Herkimer,  where  the  stream 
leaves  Oneida  county.  Here  Capt.  Butler  dismounted,  and  while  in 
the  act  of  drinking,  oblivious  to  the  nearness  of  the  American  forces, 
was  shot  by  Anthony,  a  Mohawk.  As  the  demon  fell,  the  Indian 
crossed  the  stream  and  fell  upon  his  quarry,  who  plead  for  quarter. 
Anthony,  it  is  said,  appealed  to  Col.  Willet  who  signified  that  the 
prisoner  belonged  to  the  Mohawk,  who  at  once  scalped  Butler  with 
the  promise  of  "Cherry  Valley  Quarter,"  and  left  the  body  to 
be  food  for  the  wild  beasts.  Col.  Willet,  whose  force  rid 
the  valley  of  its  scourge,  lived  to  be  ninety  years  old,  and  died 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Johnstown,  August  22,  1830.  The 
body  was  encased  in  a  coffin  made  of  woods  which  the  Colonel  had 
gathered  from  Revolutionary  battlefields. 

196 


In  the  gathering  of  material  for  these  Ecclesiastical  Studies  of 
the  Montgomery  Classis  churches  we  have  consulted  the  Clerk's 
Records  of  the  counties  in  which  they  are  situated  in  order  to  verify 
incorporation  dates  and  secure  other  data  of  interest.  The  published 
County  Histories  insofar  as  they  refer  to  the  Reformed  churches 
have  been  read.  The  Minutes  of  the  Coetus  and  Conferentie,  pre- 
decessors of  the  General  Synod,  and  the  Minutes  (printed)  of  both 
General  and  the  Particular  Synod  of  Abany  to  date  were  examined. 
Most  of  the  churches  now  in  Classis  have  had  their  records  carefully 
read,  and  in  a  few  cases  we  have  read  historical  sermons  based  upon 
these  records.  In  the  case  of  the  extinct  or  merged  churches  we 
obtained  information  from  the  men  who  formerly  served  these 
churches  or  from  the  oldest  members.  Other  works  or  records  which 
have  been  examined  in  the  preparation  of  this  history  are  as  follows: 
"Annals  of  Tryon  County"  (Campbell,  1831);  "Biographical  Records" 
Auburn,  New  Brunswick,  Princeton,  and  Union  Seminaries;  Union 
College  "Alumni  Record";  Minutes  of  General  Assembly  of  Presby- 
terian Church;  "Documentary  History  of  New  York  State"  (-1  vols.); 
"Ecclesiastical  Records"  of  New  York  State  (6  vols.,  1901-1905); 
"Geographical  History  of  New  York"  (Mather,  1851);  "History  of 
Schenectady  County"  (Pearson,  1883);  "History  of  Schenectady 
County"  (Halsey,  1887);  "History  of  New  York  State"  (Macauley, 
3  vols.,  1829);  "In  the  Mohawk  Valley"  (Reid,  1901);  "Old  Fort 
Johnson"  (Reid  1906);  "Indian  Names  in  New  York"  (Beauchamp, 
1894);  "Manual  of  the  Reformed  Church"  (Corwin,  1869,  1879,  1902); 
"Old  New  York  Frontier"  (Halsey,  1902);  "Joseph  Brant"  (Stone, 
1838);  "History  of  Schoharie  County"  and  "New  York  Border  Wars" 
(Simms,  1845);  "The  Frontiersmen"  (Simms,  1878);  "Committee  of 
Safety  Minute  Book  of  Tryon  County"  (1905);  "Story  of  the  Pala- 
tines" (Cobb,  1897);  "Fathers  of  the  Reformed  Church"  (Harbaugh, 
2  vols.,  1854);  "History  of  New  York"  (Smith  2  vols.,  1814);  "History 
of  an  American  Lady"  (Mrs.  Grant,  1808,  London);  "History  of  the 
New  York  Iroquois"  (Beauchamp,  1905);  "Gazeteer  of  Mohawk 
Valley"  (Childs,  1869);  "Mohawk  Genealogy"  (Reynolds,  4  vols., 
1911);  "Delaware  County  and  New  York  Border  Wars"  (Jay  Gould, 
1856);  "Eminent  Americans"  (Lossing,  1855);  "Van  Curler's  Journal" 
(Wilson);  "Greycelaer  a  Mohawk  Romance"  (Hoffman,  2  vols.,  1840); 
"Colonial  New  York"  (Schuyler,  1885);  "Sir  William  Johnson  and  the 
Six  Nations"  (Griffis,  1891);  "The  Hudson  River"  (Bacon,  1903); 
"Onondaga"  (Clark,  2  vols.,  1849);  "Colonial  Period"  (Andrews,  1912); 
"Colonial  Homesteads"  (Harland,  2  vols.,  1899).  Articles  in  Nation, 
Harpers,   Century,   Lippincott,  bearing  on  the   Mohawk  valley,  etc. 


197 


ADDENDA 

The  beginning  of  the  work  at  Currytown  is  uncertain. 
The  1796  organization,  tho  recorded  at  Fonda,  is  not 
mentioned  in  Classis  record.  The  present  church  was  in- 
corporated May  7,  1806,  and  the  land  deeds  bear  this  date, 
but  were  not  recorded  until  April  18,  1849.  On  January 
29,  1811,  the  churches  at  Sprakers  and  Mapletown  com- 
plained to  Classis  that  Currytown  had  "ceceded"  from 
them  and  formed  a  separate  congregation.  Currytown 
was  received  into  the  Classis  May  31,  1814.  The  Tryon 
County  Committee  of  Safety  Records  show  thirty-one 
meetings,  fourteen  of  which  were  held  at  the  Gosen 
Van  Alstyne  stockaded  house  at  Canajoharie,  the  present 
home  of  the  Fort  Rensselaer  Club.  H.  B.  Stryker,  a 
licentiate,  was  a  missionary  of  the  Classis  at  Athol,  Cald- 
well, Johnsburgh  and  Warrensburgh,  in  Warren  county, 
in  18^2  and  1823. 

Page  18,  line  51,  read  "descendant";  page  27,  line  8, 
read  "Robert"  for  "Harvey";  page  28,  line  28,  read 
"taken";  page  30,  line  28,  read  "1796";  page  44,  line  34, 
read  "log";  page  105,  line  41,  read  "proved";  page  107, 
line  39,  read  "1885";  page  117,  line  25,  read  "True";  page 
149,  line  10,  read  "1760-1765";  page  149,  line  26,  add  Pater- 
son,  N.  J.;  page  152,  line  12,  read  "Cincinnati,  O."  for 
"Auburn,  N.  Y.";  page  158,  line  39,  read  "Auburn";  page 
164,  line  12,  omit  ????;  page  164,  foot  note,  read  "story"; 
page  185,  line  12,  reads:  "The  other  part  was  built  in  1756*- 
by  Peter  Ehle.  It  is  still  owned  by  the  Ehles.  Before 
the  Revolution  an  old-fashioned  square  house  within  sight 
of  the  Lutheran  Stone  church  was  built,  which  became 
the  home  of  Dr.  John  Cochran,"  etc. 


m 


